Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that Ukraine is destroying as many Iranian-made drones as Russia can throw at its infrastructure and shot down more than 80 aerial targets over Kyiv during Russia's pre-New Year attack alone..

So how did they do it? According to Ukrainian officials and experts in Kyiv who spoke with POLITICO, this was largely due to the German Gepard system, which can send twin streams of 35mm projectiles into the sky to hit drones.. Berlin sent 30 Gepard units to Ukraine last year, and seven more this year.

The weapon, which is essentially a tracked vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft gun, provides Ukraine with a mobile air defense system that has played a key role in destroying Russian drones and missiles sent by the Kremlin to the country's energy infrastructure..

These attacks plunged Kyiv and other cities into darkness, and also led to the shutdown of heating for tens of thousands of civilians..

Since September, Ukrainian air defense has destroyed 540 Iranian kamikaze drones, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said.. He noted that Gepard is effective against these UAVs, as well as against cruise missiles.. However, this weapon is not enough.

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Given the scale of the threats posed by drones and missiles, Ukrainian forces still have to use a wide range of expensive anti-aircraft missile systems, both older Soviet-era weapons and more modern radar systems and rocket launchers donated by Western allies..

While U.S. officials cannot confirm the number of drones shot down, “we have no reason not to believe what they are saying,” said a Department of Defense official who wished to remain anonymous.. According to him, the Pentagon listens to the announced figures..

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While Gepard has proven to be exceptionally effective, there are some problems..

Most of the ammunition for them was made in Switzerland, and the local government refused to grant Germany permission to re-export these cartridges to Ukraine, citing its neutral status..

In October, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht asked the Swiss government to send 12,400 Swiss-made rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, but the request was rejected.. In December, the German manufacturer Rheinmetall said it would open a new production line to begin production of 35mm ammunition, however, the first rounds would not be available until a few months later..

This lack of domestic industrial capacity has been increasingly worrying Western governments since the start of the war.. As a result, the US and its European allies are hastily working to identify munitions they could remove from old stockpiles and are considering ways to start pooling resources as the war in Ukraine continues to deplete NATO stockpiles..

Closed talks are already underway in Washington to remove Cold War munitions from bunkers and upgrade them so that Kyiv can use them, the source said.. One of these programs has already started and it is planned that missiles for long-decommissioned American-made HAWK air defense systems will receive the necessary updates to be sent to Ukraine..

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HAWK missiles will be paired with several launchers that Spain has promised to provide Ukraine. HAWKs are still used in Europe and other countries, but in the early 1990s the US Army abandoned them in favor of the Patriot system, so the missiles available in American warehouses need to be updated..

In the 1990s, trends in the NATO alliance saw a slowdown in the production of many types of weapons and a reduction in defense spending, as Europe rushed to rely on a policy of peace that was thought to come with the collapse of the Soviet Union..

The US is also looking for ways to cut off the supply of Iranian drones..

“We are looking for ways to stop the production of Iranian UAVs through sanctions, export controls and negotiations with private companies whose parts were used in production,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.. "