

Yeah, the only feasible way to do satellite warfare without creating a ton of debris is to mechanically attach to an enemy satellite and drop it out of orbit.
Like imagine an autonomous attacker satellite that clamps onto the target satellite, and uses thrusters to drop itself (and the target) into the ocean. Any kind of kinetic weaponry to destroy the target satellite will just end up with a debris cloud around the earth, making future space travel impossible.
But no country wants to invest in satellites just to intentionally drop them out of orbit. Every single attack would be prohibitively expensive when compared to just firing a missile at the satellite.
This is how it works in Germany. Lots of their water bottles are made of glass, and end up with textured/worn rings along the bottle; The rings are from where it goes through the recycling machines to get prepped for the next use. The rings mean the bottle has been reused a lot, and has gone through the machines enough to get slightly worn.