Russia-Ukraine War: As focus moved to the deployment of drones in the conflict between neighbours, twin strikes on air bases deep inside Russian territory delivered Moscow a serious damage to its credibility and raised concerns about why its defences failed, observers said.
After Russia claimed that Ukraine attacked two military air bases in the Ryazan and Saratov regions of south-central Russia using unmanned Soviet-era aerial vehicles, Ukrainian leaders celebrated the explosions but chose not to recognise Kiev’s involvement.
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Neither side has offered specific proof of the types of weapons used or the perpetrators of the attacks
However, according to some experts, the Russian remarks implied that Ukraine might have deployed a Tupolev Tu-141 or Tu-143 reconnaissance drone, which date to the 1970s but may have been carrying explosives this time.
Additionally, Kiev stated on Sunday that work on a new indigenous military drone with a 1,000 km range was progressing (665 miles).
Moscow reported that the assaults on Monday left three of its service members dead, four others injured, and two jets damaged. Another drone attack destroyed a third Russian airport in Kursk, which is closer to Ukraine, on Tuesday.
Military analysts interpreted the assaults as Kiev’s retaliation against Moscow on the same day that Moscow launched another round of missile attacks against Ukraine’s vital infrastructure.
It is unknown if Russia will seek to react. Shortly after an attack on a crucial bridge connecting the occupied Crimea to the rest of the world, which it said was orchestrated by Ukrainian military intelligence, Russia launched the first wave of its bombardment campaign.
According to Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst stationed in Kiev, “it’s a bigger image hit than a military one.” It indicates that no locations in western Russia are beyond Ukraine’s control.
Russian military bloggers, whose social media posts can offer a window into the sentiment in Russia on the path of the war began by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, expressed increased discontent about the damage to the jets.
Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky wrote, ““And I, a naive civilian fool, thought that planes were kept under concrete shelters during war …, no? It turns out that small drones, the danger from which was so neglected, can attack strategic aircraft.”
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Asymmetrical Reaction
If Kyiv had in fact used a vintage Tupolev surveillance drone, the researchers said it was puzzling why Russia’s highly developed air defences had failed to identify and neutralise the threat.
Oleksandr Musiyenko, another Kyiv analyst, said: “It would be visible on radars: the question arises of how this drone could fly from Ukraine through Russian territory and not be visible to S-400 units and hit strategic bombers at a military site.”
He said, “We could conclude that Russian air defences cannot guarantee the protection of their strategic aerodromes and that they effectively admit this.”
Musiyenko continued “It’s a moment for Russia to wonder about continuing to conduct missile strikes on Ukrainian territory. Because we now see that explosions can happen on their aerodromes, too.”
Russia has already accused Ukraine of employing such drones to launch attacks inside its borders
In July, strikes were carried out in the Ukrainian bordering districts of Belgorod and Kursk by Ukraine using Tupolev Tu-143 drones that were armed with explosives, according to the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow.
The idea of creating a “army of drones” has been discussed in Kyiv for several weeks, and the country’s defence minister told Reuters that he believed drones and unmanned aerial vehicles were the future of modern warfare.
Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian producer of weapons, announced over the weekend that it had finished several successful tests on a new combat drone with a 1,000 km range. The business intends to test it under electronic jamming conditions, according to the state-run Ukrinform news agency reported.
In a merciless effort, according to Kyiv, to weaken the will of the people to fight, Russia has utilised its overwhelming superiority in long-range missile capabilities to unleash wave after wave of aerial attacks on Ukraine’s power supply, inflicting significant disruptions. Moscow asserts the legitimacy of its attacks.
On November 29, the general director of Ukroboronprom, Yuriy Gusev, urged on the Ukrainian army to respond to Russian missile volleys in a “asymmetrical manner.”
Our arsenal of long-range, high-precision weapons is currently limited. However, our military forces must respond to Russian Federation missile terror with a commendable asymmetrical response, he insisted.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President of Ukraine, is devoting special attention to the development of aerial unmanned systems since they are useful.
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