Other people have already pointed out that your conception of shotgun spread is essentially based in video games, where the spread is (in all but basically milsim games) greatly exaggerated.

You've countered that drones can fly higher than an actual shotgun range.

Yep. They can.

... Did you read the article I posted?

Shotguns are being used fairly commonly by both sides.

It doesn't matter what you or I think about how practical or useful they are...

The people fighting the war think they are practical and useful.

...

Nonetheless, here's my attempt to explain the popularity of shotguns in Ukraine as anti drone weapons:

This is not a solution geared toward being able to shoot down any drone, of any size or capability, at any range, at any altitude.

Obviously a shotgun is not going to be able to shootdown a greyhawk or reaper style drone.

Most of the small FPV drones that attack infantry or ground vehicles do so by basically either dropping a bomb or grenade or mortar round from maybe 25 to 150 feet in the air...

Or just being rigged with some kind of an explosive to explode on contact or via a remote trigger.

(Also, these cheap FPV drones do not really handle altitudes above roughly 150 ft that well (though this will vary by exact model). Unless its a dead calm day, gusts of wind easily blow them around, draining its limited batteries as it tries to keep its position steady, severly shortening the drone's range.)

These kinds of drones are extremely cheap, plentiful, and effective against infantry and many ground vehicles...

When it comes to these kinds of drones, shotguns are also extremely cheap and plentiful, and practical self defense weapons.

Shotguns are more useful against these kinds of FPV drones than an average assault rifle, due to the spread of shot.

They are way, way more cost effective than using a tunguska or gephard or some kind of MANPADS platform designed to shoot down jet aircraft.

Shotguns are also just more numerous, and don't require specialized training/equipment like a dedicated AA platform or EM jamming and all the equipment that entails.

You can just give a few out to every squad or vehicle crew, and thats way, waaay better than just hoping you're operating near enough to an expensive friendly AA platform that exists in far more limited numbers, or being SOL if you're not.

Further, a shotgun is also just useful as a general combat weapon.

Sure, buckshot has limited range, but sometimes fights occur within tight conditions... namely trenches or an urban environment.

Also slug rounds exist and can give you more range than buck or birdshot.

Also you can use door breacher rounds, or slugs in a pinch, to blow apart door hinges and locks.