Ukrainian defenders in Donetsk region down Chinese modernized Mugin-5 drone

This is reported by CNN.

It is noted that on the night of March 11, the Ukrainian Security Service told CNN that agents of the Service in the Russian-occupied territory warned of the launch of an enemy drone at Ukrainian positions.

The Ukrainian Security Service alerted military units based in eastern Ukraine near the city of Sloviansk.

At about 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, soldiers of the 111th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine heard a drone overhead and even saw lights flashing on the aircraft.

"From the sound, from the signal light, the troops fired a lot at it and knocked down the UAV," the Ukrainian defender told reporters.

It was a Mugin-5, a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made by a Chinese manufacturer based in the port city of Xiamen on China's east coast.

Some tech bloggers say that these vehicles are known as "Alibaba drones" because they have been available for sale for up to $15,000 on Chinese internet sites including Alibaba and Taobao.

Mugin Limited confirmed to CNN that it was their drone, calling the incident "deeply unfortunate."

"In this case, the Mugin-5 Pro was likely being used in a ‘bomber’ role, and not as a one-way attack (OWA, also called ‘sacrificial’) UAV," commented N. R. Jenzen-Jones, an arms and munitions intelligence specialist, and director of the consultancy Armament Research Services.

He added that the downed UAV adds more evidence to the theory that Russia is not a military superpower.

"This seems to be a very crude, unsophisticated, not very technologically advanced way of conducting operations," said, Chris Lincoln-Jones, a retired British Army officer and specialist in drone warfare, adding that the price of the devices is very cheap from a military point of view.

• Despite the sanctions, the Chinese and Russian military industries continue to cooperate: in 2022, Russia received parts for helicopters and radio equipment from China.