The Ukrainian is not the only army that has been using kamikaze drones during the conflict with Russia. According to ‘The Wall Street Journal’, Kremlin troops have been causing serious damage in the northeastern area of Kharkov through the use of devices Shahed-136made in Iran and repainted to show off the Russian flag.
These drones, renamed by Russia as Geranium 2They began to be used to attack Ukrainian artillery and armored posts last week, Rodion Kulagin, artillery commander of the 92nd Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade, told the US media.
These drones, whose use in the conflict has not been recognized by Russia and Iran, are being used especially in the northeastern area of Kharkov, where the Ukrainian army has recovered a lot of ground in recent weeks; specifically, about 8,500 square kilometers only during the last month.
“In other areas, the Russians have overwhelming artillery firepower and they get by with that. Here they no longer have that advantage of artillery, so they have begun to resort to these drones,” the commander explained to the ‘WSJ’.
According to Kulagin, the Shahed-136s have already destroyed two 152mm self-propelled howitzers, two 122mm self-propelled howitzers and, finally, two BTR armored personnel carriers in his brigade’s area of operations.
This type of drones they are relatively small, usually fly in pairs and at low altitude. The objective of these devices is to hit the enemy directly, either against their howitzers and armored vehicles, as is the case, or against soldiers.
Ukraine is not far behind
Indeed, Ukraine has also used similar devices during the conflict. A few weeks after the start of the war, the United States sent several units of the Switchblade drone to the country governed by Zelenskiy, which is also designed to directly hit the target.
Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has been using drones intensively, both for reconnaissance and to launch attacks on Russian positions. Among the devices most used by the country, the Bayraktar TB2 Turks. The army even has its own team of ‘tinkerers’ tasked with adapting commercial drones for use in the conflict.