How drones changed the face of Ukraine’s resistance

The US is planning to provide Ukraine with “kamikaze” drones as part of an $800bn (£609bn) weapons package to help repel Russia’s stalled invasion.

The shipment includes 100 unmanned drones, which US officials told euronews are “Switchblades” – “small ‘suicide’ drones that explode on impact” with a target.

“Aerial drone footage of the destruction of Russian armoured vehicles” has quickly “become a key tool for Ukraine’s information war and has gained attention on social media”, Sky News reported. So just how much have drones aided Ukraine’s resistance?

‘Unseen threat’

Despite three weeks of near constant bombardment by Russian troops, “Ukrainian forces have defended the country’s cities using cheap drones with lethal effectiveness”, Sky News said, “surprising Western military experts” in the process.

The drones currently being used by the Ukrainian military are Turkish-made TB2s, which have “carried out unexpectedly successful attacks”. They cost “under $2m (£1.5m) each” and “are flown at a low level, allowing Ukrainian forces to strike Russian targets”.

“Although Turkish officials refuse to disclose details of the drone sales to Ukraine”, the broadcaster added, independent estimates by open source intelligence researchers “suggest the number of TB2s in Ukraine is between 20 and 50”.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has praised Ukraine’s use of drone attacks, telling the House of Commons that Turkish TB2s have been “incredibly important in order to slow down or block the Russian advance”.

According to The Times, an “elite Ukrainian drone unit” has successfully hit dozens of “priority targets” by “attacking Russian forces as they sleep”. Aerorozvidka, “a specialist air reconnaissance unit within the army”, has picked off Russian “tanks, command trucks and vehicles carrying electronic equipment since the invasion began”.

“Russian forces are static when night falls”, the paper continued, “with their fear of Ukrainian shelling forcing them to hide their tanks in villages between houses, knowing that conventional artillery cannot risk hitting civilians”.

Those “immobile convoys” have become “the prime targets of Aerorozvidka, which has 50 squads of expert drone pilots”, the paper added.

“In the night it’s impossible to see our drones,” an Aerorozvidka soldier said. “We look specifically for the most valuable truck in the convoy and then we hit it precisely and we can do it really well with very low collateral damage. Even in the villages it’s possible. You can get much closer at night.”

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/europe/956138/how-drones-changed-ukraine-resistance-russia