Ukraine's General Cherry unveils mid-range drone designed to exhaust Russian air defenses

A model of Khmarynka strike drone. (Cheneral Cherry / Facebook) Prefer on Google by Anastasiia Verzun General Cherry, one of Ukraine’s largest defense tech companies, has unveiled its first mid-range strike drone, "Khmarynka," which it says can carry seven times the payload and has twice the range of standard FPV drones. While the company presents the system as an upgrade, the technology itself is not new. Multiple analogs are already on the Ukrainian market. They are all lightweight, priced at around $1,000, capable of carrying 5 to 8 kg (11 to 18 lbs) of ammunition over distances of up to 50 km (about 31 miles), and all, Khmarynka included, are undeniably inspired by the infamous Russian "Molniya" drone. Russia's Molniya drone began appearing in 2024, gradually increasing its presence and saturating Ukrainian skies. At the time, Ukraine had no direct equivalents. Capable of carrying five to 10 times more explosives than typical quadcopter FPV drones and striking targets at distances of up to 50 kilometers (31 miles), it posed an unexpected threat to areas previously considered relatively safe rear zones and quickly became a challenge for Ukrainian forces. A key reason was its ability to operate across a wide range of frequencies, making electronic warfare (EW) suppression and spoofing less effective and more energy-intensive, quickly wearing out generators used to power EW systems on the front line. Wreckage of Russian Molniya UAV stuck in anti-drone net over Kostiantynivka-Kramatorsk road, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on April 24, 2026. (Alex Nikitenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images) “We do not know which frequency the Molniya operates on. This is because it only receives control signals and does not transmit anything back. The frequency can be anything from 150 MHz to 2800 MHz,” said Serhii Beskrestnov, a radio technology specialist and advisor to Ukraine’s defense minister. He added that a possible countermeasure is to detect the controller’s signal itself in order to determine which frequency to jam. The first Ukrainian adaptation of the Molniya, known as “Blyskavka,” was developed through reverse engineering of a captured Russian drone. General Cherry's version, Khmarynka, is designed for rapid, low-cost, large-scale production, qualities that matter in a technology-driven war. "Price points and speed of manufacture is what makes those similar solutions able to compete on the market," said Ihor Fedirko, CEO of the Ukrainian Council of Defense Industry, in a comment to the Kyiv Independent. Khmarynka fits into a broader class of low-cost kamikaze drones designed for mass deployment, including to exhaust Russian air defenses and strike targets such as armored vehicles, warehouses, and infantry bunkers. "Lightweight, but most importantly cheap," said Vitaliy Zaytsev, a doctor of sciences and professor in aviation engineering, in a comment to the Kyiv Independent on the value of fixed-wing UAVs. Khmarynka, whose name translates into English as "cloud," has a wingspan of 196 centimeters, a maximum range of up to 50 kilometers (31 miles), and a flight time of up to 60 minutes. It can reach a top speed of 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour). The price of the drone remains undisclosed at the time of publication. However, the company said that it is providing an initial batch of 150 drones to Ukraine's Defense Forces free of charge to gather feedback following testing in combat conditions Anastasiia is a junior reporter at the Kyiv Independent. She is an alumna of Ukrainian Leadership Academy Mariupol 2022 and holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Kyiv National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. Before joining the team, she studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She previously worked at the NGO Kriegsbilder, organizing screenings of Ukrainian cinema and curating music and cultural events.