By sebi_2569 @Adobe Stock
Sebastian Shukla, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Victoria Butenko, Frederik Pleitgen, and Claudia Otto of CNN report about a secretive Ukrainian drone unit targeting Russian territory. They write:
The spluttering roar of a propeller punctuates the perfect silence. Car headlights flick on, splitting the darkness. Their beams reveal not just a section of tarmac ahead, but one of Ukraine’s most top-secret weapons, controlled by its most clandestine agency.
Stuck to the nose of the gray machine is a yellow emblem of an owl, wings spread and grasping a sword – the unmistakable logo of Ukraine’s defense intelligence, the GUR.
Two pilots sporting the same owl patches on their fatigues make their final checks inside the car before a thumbs up: “Let’s go!”
A high-speed, 50-second chase ensues, before the 13-foot long, 23-foot wingspan AN-196 Liutyi drone disappears in an instant into the inky-black Ukrainian night. […]
CNN spent two days traveling across the country with the drone unit as it prepared to launch more than 100 drones overnight into September 29 on a mission into Russia. CNN is not disclosing the location of the sites visited for operational security reasons.
Their target: an ammunition facility, specifically train carriages sitting inside the depot loaded with recently delivered Iranian missiles, according to the Ukrainians.
Sources told CNN in September that Tehran had recently completed the delivery of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. Iran has vehemently denied supplying any. “Iran has NOT delivered ballistic missiles to Russia. Period!” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently stated on his X account. […]
In September, the unit’s drones hit a Russian ammunition depot between Moscow and St. Petersburg, in Tver region. The attack on Toropets, the Ukrainians claimed, resulted in the destruction of a depot storing Iskander tactical missiles, as well as aerial glide bombs and artillery munition. The strike caused massive explosions, visible for miles. […]
The mission to destroy Iranian-delivered missiles was a total success, the Ukrainians insist.
As the drones were heading towards Kotluban, Serge told CNN: “We are constantly forcing the enemy to think about what they did in February 2022. They must realize that we are getting stronger every day and we are bringing our victory and their defeat closer.”
Read more here.
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