File image.
The Russian military has been effectively hunting down Ukrainian military units responsible for drone attacks on Russian territories.
Recently, at least three such units were targeted with missile strikes, according to video footage shared by Russian media on May 31 and June 1.
The first Ukrainian drone unit was targeted in Chuhuiv Air Base in the Kharkiv region with an Iskander-M ballistic missile armed with a fuel-air explosive enhanced-blast warhead. The strike reportedly destroyed six drone launchers, six support vehicles, including two which were used for transporting drones, and more than 30 suicide drones.
The second unit was stuck right after it arrived at an airstrip next to the settlement of Krolevets in the Sumy region to launch a drone attack.
An Iskander-M missile armed with a cluster warhead hit entire airstrip, destroying four drone launchers, including two mobile ones, three control systems, more than 15 suicide drones. The strike also left more than ten members of the unit dead or wounded.
This unit was reportedly behind some of the Ukrainian drone attacks that targeted the Russian region of Kursk in recent days.
The last drone unit was also targeted in Sumy, close to the settlement of Voronezh. A Kh-35 cruise missile hit an underground post where the unit was deployed. It destroyed a mobile drone launcher and three control systems. In addition, at least seven members of the unit were killed or wounded.
The Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile is said to have a range of nearly 500 kilometers and can be armed with different types of conventional warheads, weighing between 710 and 800 kg. The highly-maneuverable missile is guided by a GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system. It can be also equipped with an optical seeker with a digitized scene-mapping area correlator system for terminal guidance.
Meanwhile, the Kh-35 is a subsonic anti-ship cruise missile with a land-attack capability. The latest version of the missile is equipped with a GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system along with an active radar homing head. It has a range of up to 260 kilometers and can cruise as low as four meters from the surface to avoid detection.
Faced with multiple defeats in the special military operation zone, Ukraine stepped up drone attacks on Russian territories in recent days in a desperate bid to improve its position. The attacks were largely ineffective and provoked a serious response from the Russian military.
The recent videos from Kharkiv and Sumy indicate that the Russian military is now targeting Ukrainian drone units more effectively. This goes to show how much the Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance, also known as ISTAR, capabilities of the Russian military has evolved since the start of the special military operation more than three years ago.
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