By Tom Balmforth
LONDON (Reuters) – Russia is now using new, cheaply made drones in its long-range attacks on Ukraine to identify air defences, film damage and act as decoys, a Ukrainian military intelligence official said.
The two new types of drones, which Russia has used in five drone strikes over the past two to three weeks, including a night attack on Thursday, are made from materials such as foam and plywood, the official told Reuters.
One guy is equipped with a camera and a SIM card from a Ukrainian mobile phone to send pictures to the Russian military.
“They are identifying the positions of our mobile groups and the machine guns that can destroy them. They are trying to get an idea of where all our air defense systems are located,” said Andriy Cherniak, a spokesman for military intelligence.
The previously unpublished details from Cherniak are further evidence that Russia is seeking to adapt its tactics and try out new technologies to gain an advantage in the daily missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Iran-developed Shahed combat drones, which fly to their target and detonate on impact, have become a staple of Russian airstrikes since their deployment in the first year of Russia’s large-scale invasion that began in February 2022.
Since March, Ukraine has been appealing to the West to strengthen its air defense systems to ward off increasing Russian air strikes on its energy facilities and is trying hard to conceal the locations of its air defense systems.
Although the new Russian drones with cameras are not equipped with explosives, they are very similar to the regular Shahed drones and fly in groups, Cherniak said.
The second new type of drone contains little or no explosives and serves as a decoy, Cherniak added.
Since it is virtually indistinguishable from a conventional combat drone from the ground, it has yet to be shot down in order to reveal the position of the Ukrainian air defense systems.
He said that despite their long range, the new drones would likely cost only $10,000 each, making them far cheaper to produce than anti-aircraft missiles.
The drones could also fly at an altitude of 1,000 meters, putting them out of range of machine guns and automatic rifles, he said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine served as a testing ground for drone warfare technology, with both sides making extensive use of attack and reconnaissance drones on the battlefield. Kyiv has put a lot of energy into drone production to narrow the gap between its attack capabilities and those of Moscow, and is conducting long-range drone strikes on Russian targets, including oil refineries.
Russia claims its long-range airstrikes are aimed at weakening Ukraine militarily. Ukraine says the Russian strikes hit civilian buildings and caused severe damage to civilian energy facilities as well as civilian casualties.
Russian troops occupy around 18 percent of Ukrainian territory and have made gradual advances in the east in recent months, forcing Kyiv onto the defensive along the 1,000-kilometer-long front line.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Philippa Fletcher)
