WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia deploys cheap drones to locate Ukraine's air defences

Russia has begun including new, cheaply-made drones in its long-range attacks on Ukraine, to try to identify air defences, film any damage and act as decoys, a Ukrainian military spy official said.

The two new types of drone, which Russia has used in five drone attacks in the last two to three weeks including an overnight strike on Thursday, are produced from materials like foam plastic and plywood, the official told Reuters.

One type carries a camera and a Ukrainian mobile phone SIM card to send images back to the Russian military.

"They identify where our mobile groups are positioned, where the machine guns are that can destroy them. They're trying ... to get a picture of where all our air defences are located," said Andriy Cherniak, a military spy agency spokesperson.

The previously unreported details from Cherniak are further evidence of Russia seeking to adapt its tactics and try new technology to gain an edge during its daily missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones, which fly to their target and detonate on impact, have become a staple of Russian aerial attacks since they began being used in the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.

Ukraine, which has been appealing to the West to provide more air defences to repel increased Russian airstrikes on its power facilities since March, tries hard to conceal the locations of its air defence systems.

The new Russian drones with cameras do not carry explosives but closely resemble regular Shahed drones and fly with groups of them, Cherniak said.

The second new type of drone contains no explosive charge or only a small one and is being used as a decoy, Cherniak added.

Because it is virtually indistinguishable from a regular attack drone from the ground, it still needs to be shot down, revealing where Ukraine's air defence systems are located.

He said the new drones probably cost as little as $10,000 each despite their long range, making them far cheaper to produce than air defence missiles.

The drones can also fly at an altitude of 1,000 m (3,000 ft), putting them out of range of machine guns and automatic rifles, he said.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has served as a testing ground for drone warfare technology, with both sides using attack and reconnaissance drones on the battlefield extensively. Kyiv has poured energy into domestic drone production to narrow the gap between its strike capabilities and Moscow's, staging long-range drone attacks on Russian targets including oil refineries.

Russia says its long-range aerial attacks are used to degrade Ukraine militarily. Ukraine says Russia's attacks have hit civilian buildings and caused serious damage to civilian energy facilities and loss of civilian life.

Russian troops occupy around 18% of Ukrainian territory and have been making incremental gains in the east in recent months, putting Kyiv on the back foot along a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian missile destroys secret Ukrainian arms depot – MOD

The Russian military has destroyed a Ukrainian warehouse in Donbass, which allegedly stored several multiple launch rocket systems and more than a dozen armored vehicles, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has claimed. Officials also released a video of the alleged strike.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said that Moscow’s forces used an Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile to strike the facility in the key regional hub of Kramatorsk, currently occupied by Ukraine, where artillery of Ukraine’s 56th separate motorized infantry brigade was stored.

The missile strike destroyed a US-supplied HIMARS system, five Soviet-era Grad multiple launch rocket systems, five tanks, and up to ten armored combat vehicles, officials added.

The ministry also released black-and-white aerial footage of the strike showing the industrial zone in the city of Kramatorsk, not far from a major railway junction. A large plume of smoke and fire can be seen rising from one of the large buildings in the area.

Iskander missiles – which can carry a payload of 700kg of explosives up to 500km and travel at hypersonic speeds – have been actively used by Russia in the Ukraine conflict to strike Kiev’s staging areas, command and control centers, airfields, defense industrial facilities, and other military targets.

Two recent strikes targeted a tank factory and a foreign mercenary base in Ukraine’s border region of Kharkov, according to the Defense Ministry.

Reuters/RT