Recently, according to a Ukrainian military intelligence official, Russia has begun using cheap new types of drones in its long-range attacks on Ukraine. These drones are being used to scout Ukrainian air defense facilities, capture destruction situations, and act as bait.
The official told Reuters that Russia has used new drones in five drone attacks in the past two to three weeks, including a nighttime attack on Thursday (July 25). One type of drone is equipped with a camera and a Ukrainian mobile SIM card, allowing images to be sent back to the Russian military.
Andriy Cherniak, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, stated, “They can determine the positions of our mobile units, including the positions of anti-drone machine guns, and they attempt to understand the locations of all our air defense facilities.”
Cherniak’s disclosure of these details suggests that Russia is adjusting its tactics and experimenting with new technologies to gain an advantage in daily missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
According to Cherniak, the new drones carrying out reconnaissance missions do not carry explosives, but are similar to the common “Shahed” drones and can fly in groups.
Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Iranian-designed “Shahed” attack drones have been a staple of Russian air raids on Ukraine.
Cherniak added that the second type of new drone serves as bait and also does not carry explosives, or only carries a small amount.
From the ground, these drones are almost indistinguishable from ordinary attack drones, and if shot down by the Ukrainian military, they expose the locations of Ukraine’s air defense systems.
The spokesperson further mentioned that despite the long range of the new drones, each drone’s cost could be as low as $10,000, making their production cost much lower than air defense missiles.
He also noted that these drones can fly at heights of up to 1000 meters (approximately 3280 feet), placing them out of range of machine guns and automatic rifles.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has provided a testing ground for drone warfare technology. Both Russia and Ukraine extensively use attack and reconnaissance drones on the battlefield. Kyiv has put a significant effort into domestic drone production, narrowing the gap in strike capabilities with Moscow and launching long-range drone attacks on Russian targets, including refineries.
Russia claims its long-range airstrikes are aimed at weakening Ukraine’s military capabilities. However, Ukraine argues that Russia’s attacks have hit civilian structures, causing severe damage to civilian energy facilities and resulting in civilian casualties.
On July 23, Russian officials stated that Ukrainian drones had attacked a ferry terminal in the southern Krasnodar region, resulting in at least one death and five injuries. The Ukrainian military, on the other hand, claimed that its attack “seriously damaged” what it referred to as a railway ferry. Ukraine’s General Staff said on social media, “The occupiers used this ferry to transport military use train cars, cars, and containers.”
Ukraine has been urging Western countries to provide more air defense facilities to repel Russia’s airstrikes on its power facilities since March this year, while concealing the positions of Ukrainian military air defense systems.