萨米娅·库拉布、弗拉基米尔·尤尔丘克 基辅，乌克兰 —— 俄罗斯新型喷气式无人机以每小时数百公里的速度划破基辅的夜空，给乌克兰防空部队留下的拦截时间仅有片刻。这极少能足够。
SAMYA KULLAB, VOLODYMYR YURCHUK KYIV, Ukraine — Russia’s new class of jet-powered drones rip across the night sky in Kyiv at hundreds of kilometers per hour, leaving Ukrainian air-defense units only moments to intercept them. It’s rarely enough time.
随着大量无人机突破防线抵达首都，国防制造商正争分夺秒研发新一代拦截机，以应对这一致命威胁。他们正在自行研制喷气推进系统，并训练人工智能协助制导追踪。
With many of the drones getting through to the capital , defense manufacturers are scrambling to develop a new generation of interceptors to counter the deadly threat. They are building their own jet-propulsion systems and training artificial intelligence to help guide the chase.
他们必须加快步伐，因为俄罗斯无人机正推动一种新战术，且在近几周升级，旨在打击支撑乌克兰饱经战火经济命脉的基础设施。近期目标涵盖能源系统、关键工业、铁路、邮局、购物中心、电信网络、加油站和粮食出口。
They need to move fast because the Russian drones are driving a new tactic, ramped up in recent weeks, to hit the infrastructure keeping Ukraine’s war-battered economy afloat. Recent targets have included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.
俄罗斯在弹道导弹储备上也占优势，这构成另一挑战，因为乌克兰拦截导弹库存告急。
Russia also has an advantage with its ballistic missile arsenal , which poses another challenge as Ukraine runs low on interceptor missiles.
轰炸的效应在基辅愈发显现，这座城市越来越像前线城市，失去了长期以来将其与战火隔开的相对安全感。食品供应中断，爆炸声昼夜不绝，居民四处寻找掩体，躲避越发逼近市中心的袭击。
The effects of the barrage are being felt in Kyiv, which increasingly resembles a front-line city , without the relative safety that had long set it apart from the fighting. Food supplies have been disrupted, explosions echo day and night, and residents scramble for cover from strikes that reach closer to the city center.
乌克兰官员称，他们正在测试新型拦截机，已成功击中喷气式俄罗斯无人机。这类无人机飞行高度和速度远超螺旋桨无人机，拦截难度大得多。
Ukrainian officials say they are testing new interceptors that have successfully hit jet-powered Russian drones, which fly much higher and faster than propeller-driven drones and are much harder to stop.
“它们速度太快，我们无法获得稳定锁定，”防空部队指挥官弗拉基米尔·谢尔丘克说。
“They’re moving so fast that we can’t get a proper lock on them,” said Volodymyr Serdiuk, commander of an air-defense unit.
制造商表示，批量生产原型拦截机并培训飞行员，可能需要长达六个月。泽连斯基总统呼吁加快生产。
Building the prototype interceptors in sufficient numbers, and training pilots to fly them, could take up to six months, manufacturers say. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for faster production.
防空机组无暇等待。面对持续不断的无人机袭击潮，他们只能临场应变，但几乎每天都有人丧生。谢尔久克的防空小组于晚上8点开始夜班。
Air-defense crews have no time to wait. Facing constant waves of drones, they improvise, but lives are lost almost daily. Serdiuk’s air-defense crew begins their night shift at 8 p.m.
他研究着一台连接中央雷达系统的平板电脑，以追踪其防区上空的空情。屏幕上的一个圆圈标示出他所在部队负责保卫的空域范围。
He studies a tablet connected to a centralized radar system to track the sky above his sector. A circle marks the stretch of airspace his unit is responsible for protecting.
谈到这些基于伊朗设计的“见证者”（Shahed）型号的新型无人机，他说：“这就像在森林里追猪一样。”
“It’s like chasing a pig in the forest,” he said of the new drones, which are based on Iranian-designed Shahed models .
他的儿子正在乌克兰东部的前线服役，现在从基辅给他打电话，只是为了确认他是否安全。这一细节反映出首都的生活状况已恶化到了何种程度。
His son is serving on the front line in eastern Ukraine and now calls him in Kyiv just to check that he is safe, a measure of just how much life in the capital has deteriorated.
向西望去，基辅的灯火在地平线上闪烁。向东望去，绿色的乡村和郊区延伸至黑暗中，远处可见一座发电厂。
To the west, the lights of Kyiv twinkle on the horizon. To the east, the green countryside and suburbs stretch into the darkness, with a power plant visible in the distance.
随后，屏幕上出现了一个红色标记，在地图上快速移动。那是一架喷气式“见证者”无人机。“撤离！”有人喊道。谢尔久克抬起头。
Then a red marker appears on the screen, moving rapidly across the map. It’s a jet-powered Shahed drone. “Exit!” someone cries. Serdiuk looks up.
片刻之后，“见证者”无人机划过夜空。它已经超出了他所在部队的射程。他的团队依赖重机枪，但他们的子弹无法匹配无人机的速度和高度。
Moments later, the Shahed streaks across the night sky. It is already beyond his unit’s reach. His team relies on heavy machine guns, but their rounds cannot match the drone’s speed or altitude.
接着，一道闪光。几秒后，来自数公里外的爆炸声传到了他们耳边。
Then, a flash. Seconds later, the sound of an explosion reaches them from several kilometers away.
在那次特定的袭击中，尚不清楚爆炸声是来自从他们头顶飞过的俄罗斯无人机——正如官方渠道所报道的那样——还是来自乌克兰防空导弹——正如现场目击者告诉美联社的那样。整个夜晚，同样的情况一次又一次地发生。
In that particular attack, it was not clear if the blast was from the Russian drone that flew past them, as official channels reported, or from a Ukrainian air-defense rocket, as witnesses at the site told The Associated Press. The same sequence happened again and again throughout the night.
即使无人机直接从头顶飞过，“问题在于它们飞得太高”，无法准确射击，该部队的前美国海军陆战队员兼志愿者肖恩·阿尔梅达说道。
Even if the drones pass directly overhead, “the problem is they’re flying too high” to fire at them accurately, said Sean Almeida, a former U.S. Marine and volunteer for the unit.
乌克兰的防空系统利用电子战和人工智能，将来袭的俄罗斯无人机引导至空中的狭窄走廊，从而提高拦截机捕获它们的机会。
Ukraine’s air defenses use electronic warfare and AI to steer incoming Russian drones into narrow corridors in the sky, giving interceptors a better chance of catching them.
但最新的喷气式“见证者”无人机正在考验这一策略。乌克兰最快的拦截机通常时速可达300至400公里（186至248英里），不足以应对这一新威胁。
But the latest jet-powered Shahed drones are testing that strategy. The fastest Ukrainian interceptors typically reach 300 to 400 kph (186 to 248 mph), not fast enough to meet the new threat.
相关人员的培训工作已经启动，他们正在学习如何操作一种新型拦截器。这种拦截器配备了冷却系统，旨在防止无人机在高速飞行时电池过热（因为这些无人机的飞行速度需要与喷气式战斗机相当）。
Crews have started training on a new interceptor that includes a cooling system to keep its batteries from overheating as the drone is pushed to higher speeds to match the jet-powered enemy.
目前，乌克兰的F-16战斗机可以在雷达屏幕上显示为蓝色的光点——这些战斗机被紧急派遣出来追击这些高速飞行的无人机。虽然F-16具备拦截这些无人机的能力，但它们需要频繁的维护；目前许多F-16战斗机因故障而无法正常使用，正在等待维修。
For now, salvation can appear on a radar screen as a blue blip representing one of Ukraine’s few F-16 fighter jets, scrambled to hunt down the fastest drones. They are capable of stopping the drones, but they need a lot of maintenance. Many are currently out of service and awaiting repairs.
“看到雷达屏幕上的蓝色光点，真的让人感到鼓舞，”阿尔梅达说道。
“It’s very encouraging to see the blue part,” Almeida said.
不久后，新闻频道开始报道人员伤亡的消息：据报道，基辅法斯蒂夫区有一名母亲和她的孩子在这次袭击中丧生。这些死亡事件是由塞尔杜克在几公里外目睹的爆炸事件造成的。
Casualty reports soon began appearing on news channels. A mother and her child were killed in Kyiv’s Fastiv district, one said. The deaths were from the explosion Serdiuk watched from several kilometers away.
在防空部队忙于追击无人机的同时，乌克兰的工程师们也在加紧推进这些拦截器的工业化生产进程。
As air-defense crews hunt drones, Ukrainian engineers are racing to set up industrial production.
奥莱克西·巴本科（Vyriy Drones公司的首席执行官）表示：“乌克兰早就收到了关于新型高速喷气式无人机即将出现的警告，但当这些新型无人机真正出现时，相关制造商并没有立即准备好应对措施。”
Ukraine had been warned that faster, jet-powered drones were coming, but manufacturers did not have a ready solution when the new variants appeared, said Oleksii Babenko, CEO of Vyriy Drones.
目前，各国防公司正在研发更快速的拦截器、新的推进系统以及自主导航技术。最大的挑战在于实现这些技术的规模化生产——采购零部件、测试设计方案以及培训操作人员都需要时间。
Defense companies are now pursuing faster interceptors, new propulsion systems and autonomous guidance capabilities. The biggest challenge is scale. Acquiring components, testing designs and training crews take time.
微型涡轮喷气发动机是生产过程中的一个瓶颈；由于大部分相关零部件都来自欧洲制造商，而这些制造商的产能远无法满足乌克兰的实际需求。
Miniature turbojet engines are one of the bottlenecks, with much of the supply coming from European manufacturers whose production capacity is far below Ukraine’s potential needs.
至少有一家乌克兰国防公司已经成功测试了这种新型拦截器的拦截效果。巴本科估计，要实现大规模生产并缩小与先进技术的差距，可能需要三到四个月的时间；而军事分析师塔拉斯·赫穆特则认为这一过程至少需要六个月甚至更长时间。
At least one Ukrainian defense company has successfully tested an interceptor against the new threat. Babenko estimates it could take three to four months to scale up and close the gap. Military analyst Taras Chmut puts the timeline at six months or more.
“目前我们正处于一场‘速度竞赛’中，”巴本科说，“我们必须尽快研发出更快的拦截器以及新的应对措施。”对于像达莉亚·库奇恩斯卡这样的乌克兰民众来说，这样的改进措施来得越快越好。
“Right now, we’re in a race for speed,” Babenko said, “trying to build faster interceptors and new solutions.”The improved interceptors cannot come soon enough for Ukrainians such as Daria Kuchynska.
31岁女子当时刚走出她在基辅开的花店，踏上街道，一辆喷气式无人机便毫无预警地爆炸。冲击波将她掀翻在地，街道上顿时尘土飞扬、烟雾弥漫。她身旁躺着一名失去意识的女子。库钦斯卡检查了那名女子的脉搏，但她已经死亡。
The 31-year-old had just stepped into the road Friday outside her Kyiv flower shop when an explosion from a jet-powered drone went off without warning. The blast threw her to the ground and filled the street with dust and smoke. Beside her lay an unconscious woman. Kuchynska checked for a pulse, but the woman was already dead.
“我们周围不断有人死去。我不知道我们是怎么活下来的。纯粹靠运气，”她说，“这一切太不真实了。”
“So many people are constantly dying around us. I don’t know how we survive. It’s simply a matter of luck,” she said. “It’s unreal.”