Russia attacks Ukrainian cities with killer drones

Russia attacks Ukrainian cities with killer drones

In a recent evening in Kiev, 4-year-old Olexander Reshetnik had a simple proposal for his parents: "Let's go to the underground car park now so that we can really sleep, and you don't have to wake us up twice to get back and forth again." The family lives on the 18th floor of a high -rise building, and the path to the underground garage, which serves as a shelter during the Russian attacks, is uncomfortable. In view of the increasing air raids, Olexander made sense to just stay there. Already at his young age he knew that the Russians would probably attack again.

Frequent air strikes on Kyiv

his mother, Khrystyna Reshetnik, explained that the family got used to the fact that drones are shot down into the sky above the Ukrainian capital. There used to be one or two, maybe three, but the situation has changed. "Lately the drones have been flying like a swarm that does not stop for three or four hours. Explosions right in front of the windows," she said in an interview with CNN.

Russia has strengthened its air raids to Ukraine and started up to 479 drones and rockets in a single night. These attacks are not only larger and more often, but also more concentrated and executed in a way that makes it much more difficult to ward off them - because they fly at higher heights and lie outside the range of machine guns.

increasing production of drones

Russia has successfully increased the domestic production of its most frequently used drone, the Iranian designed Shaheed, and now produces hundreds of these killing machines every day. Christina Harward, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, explained that Russia can currently produce around 2,700 Shahed drones per month and around 2,500 decolors.

"These numbers enable Russia to start regularly over 300 or even 400 drones on a single night," she said to CNN. The fact that some of these drones are decant birds makes little for Ukrainian air defense, since Russia has adjusted them so that they are difficult to distinguish from real drones.

Ukrainian air defense overwhelmed

The increasing number of drones that started every night overwhelmed the Ukrainian air defenders, especially since Russia, began to concentrate on a handful of goals. On Monday evening the Ukrainian capital and the port city of Odessa on the Black Sea was the destination of the attacks, the following evening it was Charkiw, the second largest city in Ukraine. "Instead of carrying out attacks here and there, they concentrate the attacks and thus achieve maximum effects, both kinetically and psychologically," said Oleksiy Melnyk, a former Ministry of Department of Ukraine.

Russia claims that it does not attack civilians, but the evidence speak a different language. In the past four weeks, at least 154 Ukrainian civilians - including children - have been killed by drones, Russian rocket attacks and artillery across the country. Another 900 civilians were injured. These fatal attacks are designed to undermine the morals of the Ukrainians and to create the illusion that Russia has the upper hand in the war - although Moscow is far away from winning.

everyday fight against drones

Yuriy Chumak spends many nights on the roofs of Kiev, with a machine gun in hand. During the day he is a judge at the Supreme Court, at night he is a drone hunt for a volunteer unit. He noticed that airspace has become significantly fuller in recent weeks. "There are many more drones. This is an objective fact. And the more there is, the more difficult it is to work against them," said Chumak.

The Russian drones now fly at heights between two and five kilometers above the ground, which makes it almost impossible for Chumak's unity to shoot them down. "We can see them all. Radar can follow them. But it has become impossible to shoot them down with machine guns," added Chumak. Instead, Ukraine now has to use rockets to ward off them.

The new normal for children

kthrystyna Reshetnik says that one of the worst things on the Russian air strikes is that they have become normal for their three sons (4, 8 and 11 years old). Olexander regularly asks whether the sound he hears is a calibre cruiser rocket or a drone. "He is only a little boy and already understands what is going on," says Reshetnik. In view of the intensity of the attacks, the family spends more time in the underground car park, where Olexander and his two brothers sleep in the trunk of their car.

Despite the daily horrors you experience, the Reshetniks are among the lucky ones. You live in Kyiv, a city that is relatively well defended. Most of the explosions they hear are Ukrainian air defendants that intercept Russian drones. However, many other regions in the country are without protection, since Ukraine only has limited access to air defense systems.

"We speak of these great attacks, especially when Kiev is attacked, but cities like Sumy or Cherson are attacked around the clock," added Melnyk, interrupted by an air alarm while talking to CNN. "A ballistic rocket comes, so I go into the shelter. My point is that this is the everyday life of the Ukrainian citizens."

Reporter of CNN, Kostya Gak and Victoria Butenko, contributed to this report.