Russia changes tactics: attacks on Ukraine with killer drones

Russia changes tactics: attacks on Ukraine with killer drones

In a current night in Kiev, four -year -old Olexander Reshetnik had a simple idea for his parents: "Let's go to the underground car park so that we can really sleep and you don't have to wake up and back twice." The family lives on the 18th floor of a high -rise building, and access to the underground garage, which serves as a bombing during Russian attacks, is an unpleasant experience. With the ever more frequent air strikes, Olexander seemed most sensible to just stay there.

The reality of the air strikes in Kyiv

Already at his young age, Olexander knew that the Russians would probably attack again. His mother, Khrystyna Reshetnik, said that the family got used to seeing drones that are shot down over the sky of the Ukrainian capital. There used to be one or two, maybe three, but the situation has changed. "Lately they have been flying like a swarm that does not stop for three or four hours. Explosions right in front of our windows," she reported.

Russia strengthens its air strikes

In the past few weeks, Russia has strengthened its air raids to Ukraine and fired up to 479 drones and rockets in a single night. These attacks are not only larger and more often, but also more concentrated and designed so that they are much more difficult to ward off because they fly at higher heights, outside the range of machine guns.

The number of drones used against Ukraine has increased impressively: after a count of CNN, seven of the biggest drone attacks took place in the past four weeks as part of the Ukraine War.

increasing production of Russian drones

Russia has successfully raised the native production of his most frequently used drone - the Iranian -constructed Shahed - and now produces hundreds of these fatal machines every day. According to Christina Harward, a Russian analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, Moscow can now produce an estimated 2,700 Shahed drones per month and around 2,500 deception drones. "These numbers allow Russia to start over 300 or even 400 drones more often in a single night," she said.

Ukrainian air defense under pressure

The fact that some of the drones are deception dries does not matter to the Ukrainian defenses, since Moscow has adjusted them so that it is very difficult to distinguish them from the real ones. "Either the Ukrainian troops spend time to identify the deception drones, or they use valuable resources to shoot them down. In both cases, it helps the Russian rockets and shaheds to achieve their goal," added Harward.

The increasing number of drones that started every night overwhelms the Ukrainian air defendants, especially since Russia, began to concentrate on a handful of locations at the same time. The Ukrainian capital and the Black Sea port city of Odessa were targeted on Monday evening. The following night it was Charkiw, the second largest city in Ukraine.

war crimes and civilian victims

Russia claims not to target civilians, but the evidence of this is increasing. In the past four weeks, at least 154 Ukrainian civilians, including children, were killed by drones, Russian rocket attacks and artillery across the country. Another 900 civilians were injured. These deadly attacks aim to undermine Ukraine morality and give the impression that Russia has the upper hand in the war - although Moscow is anything but "wins".

The front line in Ukraine has not significantly shifted since the liberation of the southern city of Cherson by the Ukrainian armed forces in November 2023. Since then, Russia has taken around 5,000 square kilometers (1,900 square miles) from the Ukrainian territory, but could not conquer any decisive cities.

The challenges for the Ukrainian defenders

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 belongs to a voluntary drone defense unit. "There are considerably more drones. This is an objective fact. And the more it is, the more difficult it is to work against them," said Chumak. He realizes that it has become much more difficult for his unit to destroy the drones, especially since Moscow lets them fly at higher heights.

technological adjustments and resource shortage

"In the past, the Russian armed forces flew the drones at a low height, for example along a river bed, so as not to be recognized by the air defendants of Ukraine for as long as possible. Today, the drones fly at an altitude of two to five kilometers," explains Chumak. "We can see them all. You can watch radars. But it has become impossible to shoot them down with machine guns," he added, and explained that Ukraine now had to use rockets to intercept them.

However, rockets are available in much shorter quantities. This forces the Ukrainian armed forces to look for new solutions on site. Oleksiy Melnyk, a former employee of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, states that the efficiency of the Ukrainian air defense system remains remarkable. "Even now about 80 % of the drones are intercepted. This percentage was about 95 % a few months ago. You can see the influence that the increase in the number of drones and the changed tactics of Russia," he added.

daily life in the middle of the war

kthrystyna Reshetnik, a mother from Kiev, says that one of the worst consequences of the Russian air strikes is that they have become normal for their three sons, aged 4, 8 and 11. Olexander regularly asks whether the sound he hears is a calibre cross rocket or a drone. "He is still a little boy and already understands what is going on," said Reshetnik. With the intensification 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.

"This has become the norm for our children. It breaks my heart," she said. Despite the daily horrors you experience, the Reshetniks are among the lucky ones. They live in Kyiv, a city that is relatively well protected. Most of the explosions they hear are interceptors of the Ukrainian air defense against Russian drones.

The lack of protection for others

Many others in the country, on the other hand, have no protection because the access of Ukraine to air defense systems is limited to provide what their western allies are available. Near the front lines, Russian troops use smaller drones to target civilians. "We are talking about these great attacks, especially when Kiev is under fire, but cities like Sumy or Cherson are attacked around the clock," said Melnyk and was interrupted by an air raid salar

"A ballistic rocket comes, so I'm going to the shelter. My point is that this is everyday life of Ukrainian citizens and civilians," he concluded.

The reporting of CNN was supported by Kostya Gak and Victoria Butenko.