Russia shifts drone strike tactics: Inside Ukraine's countermove
Photo: Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi (Facebook)
Russia has changed its tactics—now, suicide drones fly at extremely low altitudes. Ukraine is looking for and finding ways to adapt to this in order to effectively shoot down Russian targets, according to Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Read also: Ukraine shoots down 127 Russian drones in massive overnight attack
Drones against drones: how it works
Ukrainian interceptor drones now play a key role in defending against Russian suicide drones. These are unmanned aerial vehicles that are specially designed or adapted to destroy Russian drones in the air.
Over the past month, Ukrainian interceptor drones:
- Carried out nearly 6,300 launches
- Destroyed over 1,500 Russian drones of various types
And this is despite the deterioration of weather conditions and a shortage of ammunition, according to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Key issue with Russian drones
Syrskyi held a working meeting on the so-called small air defense — a system for intercepting drones at low altitudes.
"We are continuing to form and train crews for these drones. We are equipping air defense divisions with unmanned systems," he says.
Syrskyi says that Ukraine is currently working on protecting important administrative centers in the regions and retrofitting army helicopters to combat suicide drones.
Ukraine has significant experience in combating suicide drones
Ukraine has accumulated unique experience in destroying Iranian strike drones.
This experience has already been noticed by allies. President Zelenskyy has offered Middle Eastern countries assistance in combating Iranian drones in exchange for Arab leaders persuading Moscow to establish a ceasefire.
Russia is not standing still — the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already recorded jet drones traveling at speeds of 400-500 km/h, which exceed the speed of interceptors. Flocks of drones are also appearing, making interception more difficult. Ukraine shoots them down with AIM missiles and other weapons.
Ukraine could also destroy the relay towers used to support the Shaheds in Belarus. President Zelenskyy hinted at this unequivocally.
