Well into its third week, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to morph as new capabilities are brought to bear and new tactics are deployed. While Russia’s side of the conflict appears to have been surprisingly light on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, that is changing. Russia is now posting UAS footage from the front lines much as it did with Syria. And now, for the first time, it is confirmed that Russian suicide drones/loitering munitions have been employed, as well.
Make sure to check out our most recent rolling coverage update here to get up to speed. Now here is the most recent developments out of the conflict:
The Latest:
POSTED: 4:20 PM EST—
A ZALA KYB loitering munition was downed in Kyiv. This is the first known evidence of loitering munitions being used in the conflict. These systems have proven to be decisive in recent wars and are extremely challenging to reliably defend against. The ZALA KYB is a class of loitering munition that would be especially useful for engaging fixed soft targets or targets of opportunity and scouting ahead of friendly forces when equipped with an optical payload.
As noted earlier, we are also seeing more Russian UAV footage, mostly spotting and providing bomb damage assessment for artillery strikes, which is in line with Russian fighting doctrine:
Russia is loosening up a bit on frontline videos from the conflict, as well, in an apparent shift in its information operations strategy. Below shows an airborne raid on Hostomel Airport, where the An-225 was destoryed, which has been an incredibly hotly contested locale since shortly after the invasion began. It is not clear what wave of Russian assault the video is from, but the battle there has supposedly been extremely bloody, with the airport changing hands multiple times over a number of days:
UK MoD’s latest general intelligence assessment on new developments in Ukraine and the most up-to-date control map:
Zelensky claims 1,300 Ukrainian troops have died since the conflict began:
Ukraine’s military forces in Odesa, along with many of its residents, are going all out in making the potential sacking of their city much harder for Russian forces. Similar anti-tank obstacles are apparently distributed all over the city:
Ukrainian TB-2 drones have been very busy and losses have apparently been limited, which is quite astonishing:
More types of RPGs for Ukraine:
Russia’s artillery forces have been very busy, laying waste to large areas. The multiple-launch rocket system barrages have been especially horrific and costly on civilian populations:
Russia is targeting fuel and oil reserves around Kyiv, with another strike on the fuel farm at Vasylkiv Air Base and one on Hostomel Air Base:
The world’s most incredible sailing yacht, one of the fleet of oligarch-owned luxury vessels that are being hunted down around the globe, has been seized by Italian police:
The U.S. still says Ukraine’s air defenses remain remarkably intact despite Russian attempts to neuter them:
Ukrainian civilians are coming out in force to face their Russian occupiers:
More Russian combat aircraft losses:
Ukraine is now putting more organization into the captured vehicles under their control and reconstituting some of them, including tanks and APCs, for the war effort:
We will continue to update this post until it’s noted otherwise.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com