Russia is using its explosive Shahed drones to hunt Ukrainian aircraft midair, a senior defense official told Business Insider, marking a new twist in Moscow’s evolving battlefield tactics.
Lt. Col. Yurii Myronenko, Ukraine’s deputy minister of defense for innovation, said that Russia is constantly testing out new deep-strike capabilities, including “both new modifications of Shaheds and entirely different models.”
Myronenko, a former drone unit commander, said Russia has recently started using operator-controlled Shahed drones near the front lines, communicating with the systems through antennas in occupied regions of Ukraine, Russia, or neighboring Belarus.
“Countering such Shaheds is even more challenging, as they are piloted in real time, allowing the operator to react to the current situation and even attempt to engage our aircraft or helicopters in the air,” he said. It’s not just cutting reaction time for defenders; it is creating a whole new set of headaches.
Ukraine has relied heavily on its aircraft, from fighter jets to helicopters, to help shoot down Russian drones, which are packed with explosives and are highly destructive if they reach their target. The new tactic of gunning for aircraft with drones appears to be Moscow’s attempt to suppress Kyiv’s air defenses.
Kyiv, which isn’t typically very open about battlefield losses, has not publicly disclosed any incidents in which a Russian Shahed drone took out an aircraft. But in this war, aircraft have been knocked out of the sky by drones.
Andriy Dubchak/Frontliner/Getty Images
On Saturday, Ukraine’s Special Operations Force said one of its deep-strike drones “shot down” a Russian Mi-8 helicopter for the first time in history. Business Insider could not independently verify the claimed kill.
There have been other reported helicopter kills with other types of drones.
“Every mission requires creativity, from the technical characteristics of the equipment to the planning and training of the pilots,” SOF said in a statement on the engagement published to the Telegram messaging app.
New tactics and weapons
For the past three years, Russia’s Shahed drones have typically been used to strike Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure far beyond the front lines, but that appears to have changed as the Kremlin ramps up investment in its drone operations.
A soldier with the 4th Ranger Regiment, a Ukrainian special operations unit modeled after its US Army counterparts, told Business Insider on Tuesday that Russia is now producing so many Shahed-style drones that it is increasingly using them to hit front-line positions.
“It’s a big threat, and it becomes a bigger problem every day,” said the operator, who could only be identified by his call sign Khyzhak (“Predator” in Ukrainian) for security reasons.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency confirmed on Tuesday that Russia has been using new Iranian-made Shahed-107 drones to strike front-line positions. The news comes just a few months after Tehran unveiled the weapons amid its brief war with Israel.
DANYLO ANTONIUK via Reuters Connect
Reports surfaced earlier this month that Russia had introduced the Shahed-107 onto the battlefield. The GUR said in its Tuesday statement that Moscow “has begun actively using” the drone.
Ukraine said that the Shahed-107 has a wingspan of about 10 feet and features cross-shaped tail stabilizers with a carbon fiber body. The GUR said one drone was found equipped with a 15-kilogram (33-pound) high-explosive warhead, and assesses that it has an operational range of 300 kilometers (186 miles).
Russia’s defense ministry and its US embassy did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment on the Shahed tactics and reports of the new variant.
The Shahed-107 marks one of the newest weapons to debut in the war as it approaches the four-year mark, and its appearance in combat highlights how both sides continue to attempt to gain an edge over the enemy.
Myronenko, the deputy Ukrainian defense minister, said Kyiv is able to respond to the threat of Russia’s new weapons and do so “very quickly.”
“But how, exactly, is something that can only be disclosed over time, once the enemy understands the nature of the countermeasures, and they no longer provide a competitive advantage,” he said.
