{"id":33128,"date":"2026-06-29T19:56:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/?p=33128"},"modified":"2026-06-29T19:55:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:55:54","slug":"cherry-air-vs-sokol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/en\/2026\/06\/cherry-air-vs-sokol\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian defence forces destroyed russian anti-aircraft drone \u201cSokol-I\u201d for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ukrainian military personnel have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1JxxgdBCdF\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">destroyed<\/a> a Russian \u201cSokol-I\u201d unmanned aerial vehicle for the first time. The successful interception was executed by drone pilots of the 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, named after Cossack Ataman Kost Hordiienko, utilizing the <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/en\/tags\/general-cherry\/\">\u201cGeneral Cherry AIR\u201d interceptor drone<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video alignleft\"><video height=\"720\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1280 \/ 720;\" width=\"1280\" controls src=\"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/download2.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Intercepting a Russian drone. Video of the 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u201cSokol-I\u201d is one of Russia\u2019s newer interceptor drones, positioned as a specialized system designed to counter Ukrainian reconnaissance UAVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the stated specifications, the \u201cSokol-I\u201d is capable of reaching speeds of up to 150 km\/h and operating at altitudes of up to 5,000 metres. To engage aerial targets, it can deploy a warhead with remote detonation capabilities or execute kinetic interception. Defender Media has previously reported on this development in one of its regular <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/en\/2026\/06\/black-mirror-62\/\">\u201cBlack Mirror\u201d reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u201cGeneral Cherry AIR\u201d interceptor drones have already been widely deployed to counter Russian unmanned aerial vehicles of the \u201cMolniya\u201d type. According to the DELTA situational awareness system, they account for 44% of all documented \u201cMolniya\u201d interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previously, \u201cGeneral Cherry\u201d introduced its <a href=\"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/en\/2026\/06\/general-cherry-sweetheart\/\">first reconnaissance drone, Sweetheart<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A low-cost Russian interceptor was developed specifically to counter Ukrainian reconnaissance drones<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","_featured_category_order":0,"_article_badge":"featured","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[127,1632,1648,1643],"class_list":["post-33128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecosystem","tag-drones","tag-general-cherry","tag-interceptor-drones","tag-russia","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Defence forces destroyed russian anti-aircraft drone \u201cSokol-I\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A low-cost Russian interceptor was developed specifically to counter Ukrainian reconnaissance drones. Read more on the Defender Media.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thedefender.media\/en\/2026\/06\/cherry-air-vs-sokol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defence forces destroyed russian anti-aircraft drone \u201cSokol-I\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A low-cost Russian interceptor was developed specifically to counter Ukrainian reconnaissance drones. 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