How Ukraine’s new drone tactics are causing chaos for the Russian army | The Independent
AI Analysis
Ukraine is employing a strategy of “middle strikes” – drone attacks ranging 30-180km behind Russian lines – to degrade Russian air defenses, logistics, and oil infrastructure. These attacks are significantly impacting Russian military capabilities and oil production, slowing their offensive momentum. Ukraine is actively scaling up its drone capabilities, increasing crew numbers and diversifying its drone platforms.
Key Takeaways
- Ukraine’s “middle strikes” target Russian radars, air defenses (Buk, Tor, Pantsir), communications, logistics, and oil facilities.
- The frequency of these strikes has increased significantly: doubled from March and quadrupled since February.
- Attacks have caused the most extensive damage to Russian oil infrastructure since the 2022 invasion, leading to reduced oil output and pipeline disruptions.
- Ukraine’s 414th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade is a key unit involved, increasing its scale and diversity of drone systems.
- Russian battlefield advances have slowed to their slowest pace since 2023, coinciding with increased Ukrainian drone activity.
Why It Matters
This demonstrates a shift in Ukrainian tactics towards a more proactive, long-range strike capability, challenging Russia’s operational depth and logistical support. The success of these attacks highlights vulnerabilities in Russian air defense and the increasing effectiveness of drone warfare. This strategy could force Russia to allocate more resources to rear-area defense, further hindering their offensive capabilities.
How Ukraine’s new drone tactics are causing chaos for the Russian army | The Independent
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Ukraine's strategic deployment of medium-range drones is inflicting significant damage on Russia's struggling war effort, experts have said as Moscow’s ground offensive stalls.
By targeting Russian air defences and logistics dozens of kilometres behind front lines, Ukraine is disrupting Russia's battlefield advances and opening the way for long-range strikes on Russian oil and military facilities, Ukrainian officials say.
More resources have in recent months been poured into "middle strikes", typically ranging between 30 km (19 miles) and 180 km behind front lines.
This has enabled Ukraine to strike Russian radars, short- and medium-range air defences, communications infrastructure, logistics and large military vehicles at "operational depth", the sources said.
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Russia launched hundreds of drones and nearly two dozen missiles at Ukraine overnight (AFP/Getty)
Long-range attack drones can now slip through defences more easily to hit Russian oil facilities far behind front lines, said Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces.
"The role of middle strikes is currently decisive," Brovdi said in a voice message, referring to strikes of up to 2,000 km.
Defence analysts say such attacks alone cannot turn the tide against Russia but that they are having an important impact and the dynamics of the war may be shifting.
In the last few months, Ukrainian long-range drone attacks have caused the most extensive damage to Russian oil infrastructure since Moscow's 2022 invasion.
Last month, Russia reduced oil output because of drone attacks on ports and refineries, and crude oil supplies via Russia's only remaining oil pipeline to Europe were halted, Reuters reported.
The attacks have lifted morale in Ukraine after a winter of Russian attacks on its power network and Russia's rate of battlefield advances is at its slowest since 2023.
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The Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Forces, Robert Brovdi (AFP/Getty)
President Volodymyr Zelensky said this month the number of Ukrainian "middle strikes" had doubled compared to March, and quadrupled since February.
"Kusto", a field commander in the 7th battalion of Brovdi's 414th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade, said Ukraine's middle-strike capabilities had grown significantly since the autumn.
"We have scaled up, increased the number of crews, and expanded the number of systems in use. There is also greater diversity in the available platforms," he said in written remarks.
Kusto said his unit focused mainly on targets up to 100 km from the line of contact. He said Russian radar installations and air-defence systems such as the Buk, Tor and Pantsir were the highest-value targets. Other primary targe