Top Price Market
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Investing
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Investing
  • World

Top Price Market

World

Russian quad bike raids, 3D printed drones and a lack of ammo: Life on the front line in Ukraine’s Robotyne

by March 1, 2024
March 1, 2024
Russian quad bike raids, 3D printed drones and a lack of ammo: Life on the front line in Ukraine’s Robotyne

Pixelated in the thermal drone imagery, the quad bike races down a dirt track, its destination unclear. It swerves and is hit by a grenade, dropped from a Ukrainian drone. Russian soldiers appear to stagger away from it, one rolling.

The use of drones by both Ukrainian and Russian forces has become so widespread across the front line now, the soldiers said, that most maneuvers – from troop rotations to assaults – occur in darkness when the cheap, single-use weapons, which fly explosives into their targets, are less effective.

Kokos, a former children’s entertainer turned drone pilot in the 15th National Guard unit, said quad bikes were “more maneuverable than tracked vehicles. It’s hard for artillery to hit them, so we have to use drones.”

He said some of the captured Russians had seemed intoxicated. “We heard from prisoners of war how they are given pills before assaults. After capture, they won’t eat or sleep for a day.” He added of the assaults at night: “They just keep coming.”

Bohdan, the driver of a Belgian-donated armored vehicle, said Russian drones had limited the use of his protected “box” to evacuate casualties from the front line. “Our job got harder because of numerous drones flying around. The guys have to carry the injured to the extraction point between 2 and 8 kilometers (1.2 and 5 miles) away. It depends on the shelling.”

Ukrainian forces along the Robotyne front line are facing a painful Russian resurgence aimed at taking the tiny village that became one of the main gains on the southwestern front of the summer counteroffensive.

Weeks of intense fighting preceded the Ukrainian flag being hoisted inside the village, and periodic battles continued around its rubble over the winter.

Like many Ukrainian soldiers along the Robotyne front line, he said the lack of ammunition caused by a delay in US financial and military aid was “forcing them to underperform.” He said there is a “dramatic lack of ammo. It affects how many rounds we can spend on a target.”

His commander, Anton, said the unit used to fire 80 rounds a day, during the NATO-financed and aided counteroffensive, but now fired about 10.

He has spent more time thinking about Republican procedural dysfunctionality than you might expect for a man cheating death by shellfire in an underground bunker.

“I hardly understand the Republican policy on aiding Ukraine,” he said.

“The biggest problem is lack of ammo. We are waiting, we wait for it very much. We urgently need it. More ammunition equals saving more lives of our soldiers and civilians.”

On the drone monitors flickering near him, another grenade drops into a trench. Two Russian soldiers can be seen clambering inside the ruins of a dugout, one manhandling a shovel.

Ukrainian drone pilots now face Russian counterparts who have replaced their units but at a much larger scale, they said. “We don’t have their numbers, they mass produce everything. The quality is lower but they have lots of them. They send one, it gets suppressed by our jammers, and they instantly send another one.”

He said a new threat was so-called FPV (first-person view) attack drones, controlled from a gaming headset and equipped with night vision. In the background of the small farming cottage in which the unit was based whirred a 3D printer, churning out components for drones. Kokos estimated they could “print” parts for about 10 drones a day, but were crowdfunding as supplies were limited.

Saint, another drone pilot, 22, from Lviv, held up a captured Russian FPV drone, which he said was “manufactured much better than ours. Ours are made from carbon. Theirs are aluminium. That means extra shrapnel and a bigger payload.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com
0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
More than 100 killed amid Israeli gunfire and panic at Gaza food lines, Palestinian officials and witnesses say
next post
CCP flagship newspaper touts Biden campaign’s TikTok, criticizes ‘hypocritical’ politicians for ‘suppression’

You may also like

Man charged with double murder after human remains...

What kind of weapons are the US and...

What King Charles’ diagnosis means for Prince William

The world’s smallest elephants are facing extinction. One...

How yoga, mindfulness, and meditation help CNN Heroes...

Children of undercover Russian spy couple only learned...

Japan court orders government to pay damages for...

Hong Kong to hear from jailed media tycoon...

Multiple Palestinians killed as Israel launches major operation...

Xi and Putin to reunite in Beijing in...

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free


    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Latest

    • Sycamore Gap: Two men convicted of felling one of UK’s most famous...

    • Putin, Xi and friendly world leaders celebrate Russia’s Victory Day at Moscow Parade

    • Ellen Miles is planting seeds of hope through guerrilla gardening

    • US Policy Momentum, Clinical Progress Fueling Psychedelics Market in 2025

    • China has spent billions developing military tech. Conflict between India and Pakistan could be its first major test

    Categories

    • Business (1,632)
    • Investing (4,781)
    • Politics (7,546)
    • Uncategorized (2)
    • World (6,135)
    • About us
    • Contacts
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Email Whitelisting

    Disclaimer: toppricemarket.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 toppricemarket.com | All Rights Reserved


    Back To Top