- A Ukrainian drone unit used quads and night coverts to ambush Russian forces, The Guardian reported.
- Aerorozvidka was first founded by tech-savvy Ukrainians with university degrees.
- The elite unit, which flies up to 300 sorties a day, is vital to the Ukrainian campaign.
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Night raids carried out by a team of Ukrainian special forces and drone operators on quads helped turn the tide of the Russian invasion, The Guardian reported.
Aerorozvidka is a specialized air reconnaissance unit within the Ukrainian army that claims to have destroyed dozens of Russian “priority targets,” including tanks and command trucks.
The unit’s commander, Lt Col Yaroslav Honchar, told The Guardian of an ambush near the Ukrainian city of Ivankiv that helped hold off a 40-mile Russian mechanized column intent on attacking the capital, Kyiv.
Equipped with night-vision goggles, sniper rifles, and remote-detonated mines and drones, the team of about 30 Ukrainian soldiers approached Russian forces by riding ATVs through forests under cover of night.
Some of the drones used by the unit were equipped with thermal imaging cameras, others were capable of dropping small 1.5 kg bombs.
“This one small unit destroyed two or three vehicles at the head of this convoy during the night and after that he got stuck. They stayed there two more nights and [destroyed] many vehicles,” Honchar told The Guardian.
After the attack, Russian forces changed strategy, breaking up the column into smaller units to try to continue towards the capital.
However, the same team carried out an attack on the Russians’ supply depot, preventing them from advancing further, Honchar told The Guardian.
“Everything happened because of the work of 30 people,” Honchar told the newspaper.
Aerorozvidka was founded in 2014 by a group of young university-educated Ukrainians and IT specialists who volunteered to develop their machines to resist the Russian invasion of Crimea and Donbass, according to The Guardian.
It was founded by investment banker Volodymyr Kochetkov-Sukach, who was killed fighting Russian separatists in Donbass in 2015, the newspaper said.
The unit was integrated into the Ukrainian General Staff following the success of its operations in Crimea.
Now the elite unit, which The Times of London says flies up to 300 missions a day, has played a key role in strengthening Ukraine’s resistance to Russia.
A satellite image shows damage to burning buildings and fuel tanks at Antonov Airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, March 11, 2022 Maxar Technologies via Getty Images
Along with the attack on the Russian convoy, Aerorozvidka claims to have helped repel a Russian attack on Hostomel airport near Kyiv, The Guardian said.
Despite the unit’s apparent success, it relies on crowdfunding and donations to procure much-needed components like advanced modems and thermal imaging cameras. These parts, made in the US and Canada, are subject to export controls that prohibit them from being sent to Ukraine, The Guardian reported.
In recent weeks, supporters from across Europe have been donating drone parts and other equipment such as 3D printers to help build and repair equipment damaged by Russian small arms fire, according to The Times.
Aerorozvidka works in part with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system, which was activated days after Russia invaded Ukraine.