Russia Overwhelming Ukraine with Shahed Drones

"Currently, Russians concentrate their flights at very low altitudes, up to 200 meters, which are difficult to detect by radar due to blind spots — or, on the contrary, launch drones to fly very high, 1,000–4,000 above, out of reach of of mobile air defence’s machine guns."

"From a certain sector, groups of Shaheds consisting of 5–10 drones fly in at different altitudes. There are only two goals: overload the Ukrainian air defense system and identify positions [of Ukraine’s air defense] to later attack them so that they can launch what they need along the same route."

Commander of a Ukraine air defence unit  

 

"Russia is going to devastate our entire country with Shaheds. If we don’t act now, our infrastructure, production, and defense facilities will be destroyed."

"The main focus should be on mass-producing interceptor drones and training military personnel nationwide in their use. We are out of time."

Serhii Beskrestnovy, military expert in communications and electronic warfare

 

"This will continue as long as we are led by people who blindly follow orders and are unable to stand their ground, that’s the first thing. Secondly, according to the leadership, sometimes the collapse of the front is much more strategically scary than a limited air defense."

"We can all criticize [these decisions], but we only see one part of the picture. We do not have enough weapons and ammunition to hit all the targets. All of this is extremely expensive, and it takes time to expand the [air defense] system, — and during that time, people continue to die. We also face the slowness of Western decision-making and Trump’s impulsiveness and dependence in making such decisions."

Ukrainian Air Defence source

Mobile firing groups that downed Shaheds above Kharkiv, February 2024 / Photo: Viktoria Mankovska, Gwara Media

 

The Ukrainian air defence units, tasked to remain vigilant as they scour the skies for incoming missiles and drones courtesy of Russia, are vastly undermanned and under-resourced in their weaponry. They hear that menacing buzz reverberating in the night sky in eastern Ukraine, hear,and see explosions, flashes illuminating sunflower fields,while the odour of gunpowder poisons the air. "There! Three kilometres away!" shouts a serviceman. 

 

The air defence units do the critical work assigned to them, the interception  of long-range unmanned aerial vehicles. These were originally designed and manufactured by Iran, but those now used by Moscow have been re-designed for improvement, and launched unendingly with results that have been devastating to Ukraine, for almost three years since the February 2022 Russian invasion took place.

 

Moscow's industrial-scale production of the inexpensive weaponry has been celebrated on state-television broadcasting, heralding what the Kremlin boasts of as the world's largest drone factory. There the assembly of hundreds of jet-black triangular-shaped Gerans are produced (Russian for geraniums). Russia launched 344 drones in July in Ukraine's eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, impressive to be sure, but that same month it launched its largest-yet barrage of over 700 drones. 

"It's rotten tonight, just like the day before."

"They [Russian drones] fly chaotically and unpredictably. It has become harder to destroy them."

"We're effective, but I can't promise that it will be like this every week."

"People and modern weapons [are what Ukraine needs to defend its air space." 

Vasyl, Air defence unit serviceman 

The rare footage showed the assembly of hundreds of jet-black triangle-shaped Gerans — geraniums in Russian.

 

Ukrainian servicemen manning these air defence units identify themselves only with a first name or an army nickname, as military protocol demands. Every so often an explosion booms while the horizon glows crimson followed by dark smoke appearing moments later in the sky. Persuasive President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was been successful in securing several Patriot batteries from allies during the Russian invasion, while appealing for funding to acquire ten more of the systems.

 

These costly sophisticated systems, however, are reserved for high-priority target areas and larger cities to fend off Russian missile attacks. Ukraine plans to roll out cheap interceptor drones for their air defence units and to achieve that end, manufacturers have been ordered to urgently produce up to 1,000 drones every day. 

Photo by Roman PILIPEY /AFP

 

As for the teams themselves, little sleep is enjoyed throughout their course of duty. On average, most rack up two hours each night, even four on a good night, and occasionally another hour between drone waves. Sleep is often hard to come by for many, with grim memories of past fighting elsewhere in Ukraine, and anticipation of missiles and drones targeting their emplacements night after night. Sleep deprivation takes its inevitable toll. 

 

Servicemen in these air defence units are acutely aware that the same Russian drones they look out for and react to in the determination to keep them from hitting their targets, threaten their families in the city of Kryvl Rig, further west in the region neighbouring Dnipreopetrovsk. The men have not been given leave to visit their homes in over two years, working around the clock, seven days a week. 

 

Their anti-aircraft gun fires volley after volley of tracer rounds. And then it jams. Swiftly the team grabs Second World War-era machine guns to fire blindly into the air. The Gerbera (daisy) is another drone in the Russian arsenal that once was used as an unarmed decoy to overwhelm air defence systems, and since fitted out with cameras. "Only fools are not afraid. Really", pointed out Vasyl, a Ukrainian serviceman. 

 

A mobile fire group. Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine