Ukraine's Air Force predicts Russia will launch a record-breaking UAV attack this winter, targeting the country's energy infrastructure.
Yury Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian air force, said on October 8 that data from September showed that the number of Geran-2 suicide drones used by Russia "exceeded last year's numbers."
“We recorded a record number of Geran-2 UAVs this autumn-winter, with more than 500 already in use in September,” said Mr. Ihnat.
During the winter raid last year, Russia used about 1,000 Geran-2 UAVs over a period of 6 months. This UAV model has a similar shape and size to the Shahed series developed by Iran, weighs about 200 kg, has a range of 2,500 km, and a warhead of about 50 kg.
Russian UAV flies over Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, during an attack in October 2022. Photo: AFP
Russia's massive attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure last winter significantly damaged the country's power grid, forcing many cities to undergo rotating power and hot water cuts.
Despite Ukraine's efforts to boost its air defenses, officials fear the risk of power and hot water cuts reoccurring as the grid has not been fully restored.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on October 5 that "Russia will try to threaten Ukraine's infrastructure and cities during the winter" with missile and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) attacks. Mr. Scholz announced that Germany will send Ukraine an additional Patriot system to deal with the above threat.
Russia has recently increased its use of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack Ukrainian targets. Western experts believe this is an attempt to neutralize Ukraine’s air defense systems, especially Patriots, as well as exhaust its anti-aircraft ammunition by forcing them to continuously fire expensive missiles to counter UAVs or cheap missiles.
Nguyen Tien (According to Reuters )
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