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Ukrainians have been developing interceptor drones as a counter to large-scale Shahed waves.Ed JONES / AFP via Getty ImagesUkraine has been paying drone makers $20,000 for each Russian Shahed they destroy.Its new defense minister said it's helping Ukrainian forces receive 40,000 interceptors this month.He said the program focused on Chernihiv, one of the regions most saturated by Shahed flights.Ukraine is set to receive 40,000 interceptor drones in January, thanks in part to a reward system that pays firms for every kill scored against a Russian Shahed, the country's defense minister said.Mykhailo Fedorov said on Tuesday that Kyiv had rolled out a program inviting defense companies to test their small interceptor drones in Ukraine, paying them $20,000 for each Shahed drone their product destroyed."At the time, no one believed in it," Fedorov said at a press briefing. "But now, by this month, 40,000 interceptors are expected to be delivered to the military."Often short of munitions and weapons, Ukraine invites defense firms from around the world — though mostly NATO countries — to test their products on the battlefield.Fedorov, who was appointed defense minister last week, said the payment program had focused on the Chernihiv area, which sits between Kyiv and Russia's western border. Long-range attack drones launched from that border must fly over Chernihiv to reach the Ukrainian capital, and the region thus sees some of the heaviest Shahed flight traffic.Interceptor drones in Ukraine are generally small, first-person-view drones designed to fly at high speed to catch Russia's Gerans, delta-wing explosive-carrying drones closely based on the Iranian Shahed.The most common type of Geran that Ukraine faces can cruise at roughly 6,500 feet and fly at up to 115 mph.Because Russia can launch hundreds of these at a time, resource-strapped Ukrainians have prioritized keeping the cost of interceptor drones as low as possible. A typical one costs roughly several thousand US dollars.Fedorov said on Tuesday that Ukraine's military had been actively looking into interceptors since at least February 2025. The technology has evolved rapidly over the last year, with Ukrainian firms still experimenting with designs at the start of 2025 and now scaling up manufacturing for mass production.Receiving 40,000 interceptors a month would mean that Ukraine can deploy more than 1,000 of them a day — an initial production goal set by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.In a separate press briefing on Monday, Zelenskyy repeated that his country was now able to produce about 1,000 interceptors per day."But that is not enough," he said. "Because, frankly speaking, our interceptor drones have already outpaced the number of our operators."Zelenskyy said that Fedorov and Ukraine's chief commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, have been assigned with recruiting, training, and deploying more troops who can fly interceptor drones.Read the original article on Business Insider

Trump signed an executive order banning large institutional players from buying stand-alone homes.SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty ImagesTrump signed an executive order seeking to curb Wall Street firms from buying single-family homes.The Treasury Department has a month to develop a definition of "large institutional investors."Exceptions include build-to-rent properties that were designed to be rental communities.President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday seeking to limit large Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes, as part of his push to make essentials more affordable for Americans.The order details a multi-pronged plan targeting large investors. It includes measures that would restrict institutional investors from buying homes that individuals could purchase, combat speculation in the single-family housing market, and conduct antitrust reviews of acquisitions.The order comes with an important exception: build-to-rent properties that were designed and constructed as rental communities. The order also says there may be other "narrowly tailored exceptions."Per the order, the Treasury Department has a month to develop definitions of "large institutional investors" and "single-family homes." Relevant federal agencies have 60 days to look at ways to prohibit the buying of single-family homes by large entities."Neighborhoods and communities once controlled by middle-class American families are now run by faraway corporate interests. People live in homes, not corporations," Trump said in the order.Trump first proposed the order in a Truth Social post earlier this month. "For a very long time, buying and owning a home was considered the pinnacle of the American Dream," Trump wrote. "That American dream is increasingly out of reach for far too many people, especially younger Americans."A day later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Trump's proposal would not force large entities to sell their current holdings."These big institutions buy housing, then rent them out, and they're able to depreciate it. They hide their earnings, pay lower taxes," he said."The idea here is bygones are bygones," Bessent added. "We're not going to have a forced sale here."After Trump's Truth Social post earlier this month, shares of asset manager Blackstone fell 5.6%. Blackstone, which manages $1 trillion in assets, oversees one of the largest rental housing portfolios in the US, with several hundred thousand single-family homes and apartments. Other stocks similarly fell.Critics say firms like New York-based Blackstone put pressure on the housing market, reducing the availability of homes and driving prices up.The institutional players, meanwhile, say lack of housing supply — not big-business ownership — is pushing prices up.Among Trump's efforts to address affordability concerns, the president also called for a one-year cap of 10% on credit card interest rates, arguing that consumers are being "ripped off" by rates that he said can be as high as 20% or 30%. Banks and business leaders said that the rule would ultimately curtail the availability of credit for borrowers who rely on it.Read the original article on Business Insider