Russia uses Ukraine's Sumy as testing ground for new drone — political scientist

An expert from the Bureau of Analysis and Policy, Viktor Bobyrenko, said this on Espreso TV.

“A new threat has emerged — the Italmas. The Russians are testing a new Shahed-type drone over Sumy. It’s half the size, carries half the explosives, but is harder to shoot down because it’s physically smaller. Its design somehow makes it less vulnerable to electronic warfare systems. They’re creating a new, cheap 'kamikaze' drone, and they keep striking the Sumy administration and our critical infrastructure. But they often go off course and hit random places — that’s why Sumy keeps getting hit,” he said.

Viktor Bobyrenko noted that there is no peace day or night, because either ordinary Shaheds or the new Italmas are flying.

“People used to think Shaheds fly only at night, but here we get classic Shahed-136s at night and these Italmases during the day. So there’s never any rest — that constant buzzing sound of a moped. But people have stopped reacting. It’s bad in a way, especially since many children stayed here for the summer. But people get used to everything — especially Ukrainians. For generations, we’ve lived on the frontier. There’s always been some horde nearby, so we adapt,” added the political analyst.

• On July 30, Russia struck the building of the Sumy Regional Military Administration.