REPORT-In a cornfield in Ukraine, drones and a screwdriver to target the Russian army

par Vladyslav Smilianets et Valentyn Ogirenko

In a cornfield in eastern Ukraine, soldiers launch drones into the air using a slingshot, targeting Russian troops and military sites dozens of kilometers away.

“We target enemy bases on the ground, ammunition depots and air defense systems,” says the commander of the 1st Unmanned Systems Force Center – an elite unit specializing in drones – who asked to be identified by its nom de guerre “Kyt”, meaning “Whale”.

His men took drones out of their crates and assembled them on the very site of their launch. Using a laptop, a soldier then programmed a target into each device before it was loaded onto the slingshot. Finally, another turns on the propellers using an electric screwdriver and the drones are deployed in the sky.

Ukraine devotes significant resources to these “intermediate strikes” which target Russian air defenses and military logistics located between 30 and 180 km behind the front line. President Volodimir Zelensky said this month that such strikes had quadrupled since February.

Ukrainian officials and military analysts credit them with helping to slow the Russian advance, thereby changing the dynamic on the battlefield. According to an open-source map from DeepState, Russia conquered only about 50 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory as of May.

“The enemy’s rear is no longer a safe haven,” Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, a 35-year-old technology enthusiast, said on Wednesday, announcing additional funding of 5 billion hryvnias (97 million euros) for most effective intermediate strike units.

According to “Whale”, Ukraine carries out hundreds of missions of this type.

“LITTLE DRAGONS”

The Ukrainian-made drones – known as “drakocha” or “little dragons” – could strike all regions of occupied Ukraine and even Russian territory, he assures. “ It’s deep, and it’s escalating.”

According to DeepState, Russia has seized around 12% of Ukrainian territory since 2022, meaning it now controls around a fifth of the country including land seized in Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014.

According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War, “interim strikes” hamper Moscow’s ability to deliver troops and equipment to the front by hitting key arteries such as the M-14 highway, which connects Rostov to Crimea, in along the coastal line of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Defense sector analysts believe that these attacks alone cannot turn the tide against Russia, but that they have the other advantage of facilitating longer-range drone strikes against Russian oil infrastructure.

According to “Whale”, the war launched by Moscow in February 2022 saw each side take a technological advantage before the other caught up.

“It’s a constant process. As soon as we find a technology, they develop ways to counter it,” he says, emphasizing that Russia has a lot of experience in air defense technologies. “We must not underestimate the enemy. ”

(Report by Vladyslav Smilianets and Valentyn Ogirenko; edited by Daniel Flynn, French version by Benjamin Mallet, edited by Sophie Louet)