Ukraine built its own drones to hit deep inside Russia

The UAV drone crisis in Ukraine: from airbases to fuel storage sites and weapons depots, to counterattacks in the era of the Russian invasion

Today, dozens of Ukrainian companies are making drones that play a critical role in the war. Many of those drones are carrying out attacks along the frontline inside the country. But increasingly, Ukraine is sending attack drones deep into Russia to hit air bases, weapons depots and fuel storage sites.

“They have to fly for four hours to see if the battery will work”, said Victor Lokotkov. He is with Airlogix, they updated their drones which are already being used by Ukrainian troops. If these drones fly as planned today, “tomorrow they will go to the frontline,” he added.

Most militaries can only dream of this kind of rapid change, and it’s a new development for Ukraine as well. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, it was no match forUkraine’s traditional air force. Ukraine had only a tiny domestic drone industry. The country also lacked long-range missiles. All of this meant the country had no way to carry out strikes across the border against Russian forces.

Ukraine’s long-range missile attack on Ukraine: a milestone in a democratic country without a traditional navy, according to the Stimson Center

“Many of the companies that are at the testing ground are companies that have been here a couple of years ago or even a few months ago,” Lokotkov said.

Earlier this week,Ukraine fired a series of long-range missiles into Russia for the first time following approval from the Biden administration.

” It is stunning how quickly technology and tactics have evolved”, said Kelly Grieco with the Stimson Center. She closely covers the air war in Ukraine and recently briefed the Pentagon.

President Zelenskyy wants to make sure that Ukraine’s overall drone program is a success. He says the country will build around 2 million this year, and plans to make around 4 million next year.

She said that they were seeing drones flying through trees and attacking the enemy. These long-range, one-way attack drones allow the Ukranians to strike in Russian territory.

“Somehow, this country without a traditional navy has managed to sink or disable a third of Russia’s Black Sea fleet and force it to withdraw it further back in Russia,” said Grieco. That is a monumental achievement.

Murmansk: The U.S. approach to war and its impact on Russia’s nuclear operations in southeastern Russian town, northwestern Ukraine

In recent months, multiple media reports, including some from inside Russia, have cited drone attacks at military bases in Murmansk, a Russian town in the Arctic Circle, more than 1,000 miles from Ukraine’s border.

He says the U.S approach has been to invest in high-priced weapons that you won’t be able to buy in large numbers. Is it really the right way to have large numbers of expensive, sophisticated weapons?

“The approach we’ve seen in Ukraine, of relatively inexpensive experimentation that cycles fast, is pretty alien to the U.S. way of doing defense policy,” said Stephen Biddle, a professor at Columbia University who’s advised the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Thursday that Russia launched the missile from the Astrakhan region in southeastern Russia, more than 770 miles away. The Ukrainian government said that nine rockets were fired at Dnipro and that the damage included an industrial facility, a rehabilitation center and residential buildings. Officials said two people were injured, according to The Associated Press.

Serhii Nikolaienko, a Ukrainian energy worker, said he would like to see Ukrainian troops use long-range weapons earlier in the war.

“I believe there would have been no destruction in the Ukraine if we had kicked the war in the teeth two years ago,” he said.