Russia with the help of drones mask a new deadly weapon against Ukraine: what is it scares

Focus has translated the article of the International Information Agency for the Associated Press about how Russian troops use such aircraft in new massive attacks against Ukraine. Thermobaric warheads during the explosion create high pressure flows and temperatures that can penetrate even through thick walls.

They suck all the oxygen on their way and have received a terrifying reputation due to injuries that even beyond the epicenter of the original explosion: lung collapse, brain damage and eyeballs. The investigation showed that the plant recently began to produce thermobaric drones along with false purposes. At the end of 2022, Russia developed a plan under the code name "Operation: False Target".

According to a person familiar with the production of Russian drones, who spoke on the conditions of anonymity, since this industry is extremely sensitive, the idea was to launch shock drones along with dozens of false goals, sometimes stuffed with rags or foam, and those that cannot be distinguished on radar from those who carry real bombs. The Ukrainian forces should make instant decisions on how to spend meager resources to save lives and preserve critical infrastructure.

"The idea was to make a drone that would create a sense of complete uncertainty in the enemy. So he does not know if it was a deadly weapon . . . or in essence a foamy toy," the source said. With thermobarika now there is a "huge risk" that armed drone can deviate from its course and be in a residential area, where "the losses will be just terrible," she added.

In recent weeks, dozens of baits have appeared in the sky of Ukraine, each of which looked like a point on the screens of military radars, which cannot be distinguished from others. On the first weekend of November, the Kyiv region spent 20 hours in a state of air anxiety, and the buzzing of drones was mixed with the roar of air defense and rifles.

According to this person and Sergiy Beskrest, a Ukrainian electronics expert, whose black military van is equipped with electronic "blankets" for suppression of drones, now more than half of the drone aimed at Ukraine, are false missions that do not have weapons.

Both the naked baits and shock Iranian Shahd drones are produced at the factory in a special economic zone "Alabuga" in Russia, an industrial complex, created in 2006, about 1000 kilometers (600 miles) east of Moscow to attract business and investment in Tatarste. It expanded after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and some sectors switched to military production, adding new buildings and repairing existing facilities, according to satellite images, analyzed by The Associated Press.

In videos on social networks, the plant advertises itself as an innovative center. But David Albright from the Washington Institute of Science and International Security stated that the current goal of "Alabuga" is exclusively the production and sale of drones to the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

Videos and other advertising materials were deleted after the AP investigation has shown that many African women hired to fill the lack of workforce complained that they had been deceived at the factory. Russia and Iran signed an agreement for $ 1. 7 billion on Shakhada in 2022, after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, and Moscow began to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) imported from Iran at the end of the same year.

Shortly after the signing of the agreement, production began in Alabuga. In October, Moscow attacked at least 1889 drones - 80% more than in August, according to AP analysis, which monitors UAVs for months. On Saturday, Russia launched 145 drones across Ukraine, just a few days after the re -election of Donald Trump has questioned the support of the US country.

Since the summer, most drones fall, knock out or reject electronic obstacles, according to the analysis of AP of Ukrainian military reports. Less than 6% fall for specific purposes, according to data analyzed by AP since late July. But these figures mean that a handful can slip daily - and this is enough for a deadly result. These flocks have become a demoralizing element of life for Ukrainians. The tactics of Russian drones continue to develop.

Now more powerful rockets often follow them on their heels, as air defense is depleted by drones. The most destructive are ballistic and winged missiles that fly many times faster than drones, buzzing loudly and can be tracked with the naked eye. Even baits can be useful for Russia. One such UAV with a video for a direct broadcast of the video allows the aircraft to determine the location of the air defense of Ukraine and transfer information to Russia in the last minutes of its mechanical life.

Night by night Ukrainian arrows are coming into battle to knock down the drones with the portable landscapes of the Earth-Air class. One fighter, who, like most Ukrainian soldiers, asked him to call him a "rosemary", he said that in almost two years he had knocked down a dozen drones and saw one, stuffed with rags and foam. Rosemary perceives his opponent almost as a person, describing the desire of the plane to outwit his small unit.

"He was part of the swarm that was flying one of the last," said the military. "When he is in the sky, we cannot say what he is because everything is inside the drone. We will only find out after being knocked down. " Many UAVs fly at an altitude of 2000 to 3000 meters before falling at the final stage of landing, said Rosemary. The leaked videos indicate that Ukraine now uses helicopters to whip up altitude drones.

According to Moldova authorities, three Russian-made drones have been crashed over the last week. Due to the optical tricks, the radar cannot distinguish a drone armed with a regular 50-kilogram combat part of "Shahaned" or thermobaric weapon-also known as a vacuum bomb-from those who do not have warheads or equipped with direct translation cameras.

There are also other drones of even more coarser quality, shock and non -permanent, but in smaller quantities than Shahaneda's unmanned aerial vehicles. That is why, even knowing that now most of the coming swarm is baits, Ukraine cannot afford to miss anything. "It is just a point on the radar for us . . . It has speed, direction and height.

We do not have the opportunity to accurately determine the target during flight, so we have either to blame them with radio electronic fighting, or to neutralize fire strength. The opponent uses them, they use them To distract our attention, " - said Colonel Yuri Ignat, a representative of the Air Force of Ukraine.

Shahheda shock engines and electronics are a mixture of Chinese and Western imported components, according to fragments that saw the Associated Press in the Ukrainian Military Laboratory. Without them, drones cannot fly. Despite almost three years of sanctions, Moscow can still receive details - mostly from China and through third countries in Central Asia and in the Middle East.

On November 2, in the middle of a series of alarm, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the appearance of Shahanedov swarm, which, according to him, was only 2000 units in October, was made possible by the fact that Western technologies avoided sanctions. "This flock of" Shahaned "consists of more than 170 thousand components that were to be blocked for deliveries to Russia.

The chips, microcontrollers, processors, many different parts, without which this terror would be simply impossible," Zelensky said. The joint production of drones, some - for the transfer of warheads, others - for distraction - saves military money in Russia.

The production of baits began in early 2024, and now the plant produces about 40 cheaper naked drones a day and about 10 shock, which cost about $ 50,000 and require more time for production, according to a person familiar with the production of Russian UAVs. At the end of October, the Russian news agency "Izvestia" reported that the purpose of this distracting attack was to "weaken" the enemy, forcing him to spend ammunition before taking shook "Shahda".

Both Sergei Beskrestnov and a person familiar with Russian drone production say that Alabuga engineers are also constantly experimenting, bringing Moscow to the leading positions in the production of drones. To complicate radio electronic suppression, they add Ukrainian SIM cards, SIM card roaming, Starlink terminals, optic fiber-and can sometimes receive feedback in real time before the drones are muted, whipped or fuel.

Sometimes they attach a foam ball painted with silver paint so that the drone seems larger on the radar. However, the newest thermo -brary version has caused new troubles in Ukraine. From a military point, thermobaric weapon is ideally suited for the defeat of goals that are both inside the fortified buildings and deep underground.

According to David Albright, Alabuga's thermobaric drones are particularly devastating when hit in the building, as they are also equipped with metal balls, which allows maximum damage even outside the hot explosive wave. Sergei Beskrestnov, better known as "flash", said that thermobaric bombs were first used in the summer, and, according to estimates, they now ranges from 3% to 5% of all drones. "This type of warhead is capable of destroying a huge building, especially apartment buildings.

And it is very effective if the Russian Federation tries to attack our power plants," he said. According to Arthur Van Collers, an international humanitarian law expert from Fort-Her University in South Africa, thermobaric bombs have a terrifying reputation because of physical consequences even for people who are outside the initial explosion. "During the thermobaric explosion through the cloud he creates, everything will suffer from the radius," he said.

"It creates a great fear of civilian population. Thermobaric weapon has created an idea that it is a really horrible weapon, and it is a fear. " Emma Barrous is a reporter of the Associated Press, which illuminates events in Russia, Belarus, Central Asia and the Caucasus, lives in London. Anna Archirov, reporter associated press in Ukraine. He lives in Kiev. Lori Hinnant highlights the issues of human rights and international security crossing for The Associated Press.