Russia uses cheap drones to detect Ukraine's air defences

The spokesperson for the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, Andriy Chernyak, stated this in a comment to Reuters.

According to him, Russia has used two new types of drones made of foam and plywood in five recent attacks. One of these drones is equipped with a camera and a SIM card from a Ukrainian operator to transmit images to the Russian military.

"They identify where our mobile groups are positioned, where the machine guns are that can destroy them. They're trying ... to get a picture of where all our air defences are located," said Andriy Cherniak.

He added that the new camera drones do not carry explosives but are similar to Shahed drones and fly in groups. The second type of drone either carries no explosive charge or only a small one and is used as a decoy.

These UAVs look almost identical to conventional attack drones from the ground, so they still need to be shot down, which in turn reveals the location of Ukrainian air defense systems.

Chernyak added that despite their long range, the new drones likely cost only $10,000 each. The drones can also fly at an altitude of 1,000 m, putting them out of range of machine guns and automatic rifles.

• On the night of July 25, the Russian army launched Shahed UAVs into Ukraine: air defense was operating in the Kyiv region, two people were injured in the Odesa region.