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Russia is allegedly depending on cheap "kamikaze" drones to continue its relentless pace of attack against Ukraine.
In recent months, Russia's attacks against vital Ukrainian infrastructure have become more reliant on relatively inexpensive drones that have allegedly been provided by its ally Iran. At a cost of up to $30,000 per drone, these unmanned crafts have allowed the Russian military to keep hammering vital Ukrainian infrastructure without dipping into more expensive missiles, The Kyiv Independent reported on Monday.
Early on in the invasion, the Independent explained, Russia predominantly focused its strikes on civilian residences and general pieces of infrastructure. More recently, as the invasion has stretched on far longer than the nation could have anticipated, the Russian military has become more precise and strategic with its strikes, targeting and damaging more than a third of Ukraine's energy power plants, a plan that has been compared to Nazi Germany.
"Russia is using the same tactics that Nazi Germany tried to achieve against the British in 1940," Federico Borsari, an expert at the Center for European Policy and Analysis, told The Kyiv Independent about Russia's strikes.
Oleksandr Kharchenko, head of the Energy Industry Research Center, also told the outlet that Russia's assault on Ukrainian energy has constituted the largest infrastructure attack since World War II.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of ordering roughly 2,400 cheap drones from Iran, with most being Shahed-136 models. Mohajer-6 attack drones also appear to have been supplied, according to The Kyiv Independent. Iran has consistently denied that it has been supplying Russia with military equipment during the invasion, despite frequent reports to the contrary.
On Monday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry released a report claiming that Iran had sent a sizable shipment of military gear to Russia, including 1,500 bulletproof vests and 1,500 helmets. This came amid other reports that Russia was struggling to equip and outfit the hundreds of thousands of men conscripted into service in the last month as a result of President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization.
Ukrainian officials have also claimed on numerous occasions to have destroyed a significant amount of Russia's Iran-supplied drones. On October 6, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense wrote in a Telegram post that more than half of its enemy's "kamikaze" drones had been shot down in the preceding week, 24 out of a shipment of 46 at the time.
On Sunday, Ukraine reported the destruction of a further 16 drones, this time over the course of a single night starting on Saturday.
Newsweek reached out to Russian officials for comment.
About the writer
Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more