FAB bombs, FPV drones, night assaults: Ukrainian military tells about Russia's tactics, peculiarities of UAVs use

Yehor Firsov, a platoon commander of the 109th Battalion's FPV drones and former MP, reveals details of Russia's tactics, which include specialized crews to shoot down UAVs and extensive use of artillery

He said this on Espreso.

"Grills on tanks: we all laughed at this, remember those pictures? In fact, it is very effective because, for example, we cannot fully hit a tank with an FPV drone because it is protected by such a structure. I am not a tanker, but it is a fact that we, as FPV drone operators, cannot effectively destroy a tank that is equipped with such protective devices. Unfortunately, I see that some of our equipment neglects such stuff, for example. This, of course, allows the enemy FPV drone operator to destroy our equipment better," explained the FPV drone platoon commander.

Screenshot from the video

Firsov emphasized that Russia has an advantage at the front because it is beginning to think more deeply about its tactics.

"I'll tell you this, the Russian army shot down about 30-40 FPV drones with rifles, not Kalashnikovs, but special rifles and shotguns. I understand that they have entire crews on duty to protect them. For example, we are targeting a self-propelled howitzer, which attacks our infantry. We fly over electronic warfare, but the main thing is to fly over this enemy crew, which starts patrolling and if they hear an FPV bird flying, they start shooting at it. That is, these invaders are specially designed for this function - to shoot down FPV drones with shotguns," said a serviceman of the 109th Battalion.

According to him, the Russian troops’ tactics have not changed, they have been honed from the Bakhmut offensive of small groups to what happened in Avdiivka: “This is now being implemented by the enemy along the entire front line - from Vuhledar to the very end of the Lyman - it is a wide use of FAB aerial bombs, aircraft, all kinds of artillery attacks, unfortunately, the enemy continues to outnumber us in artillery systems and shells, and these are small groups mostly at night, storming our positions.”