Putin suffered an embarrassing setback soon after bragging ‘Victory is inevitable’ as he put captured British tanks on display in Moscow.
Footage showed how Ukraine took out a major Russian radar system worth £6 million, using a drone that cost just £21,000.
The Polish-made kamikaze ‘Warmate’ drone flew into and destroyed the spinning dish of the mobile Podlyot radar complex, which can detect up to 200 targets simultaneously.
Ukraine boasted about the attack days before the display of captured military vehicles is set to open in Victory Park on May 1.
A number of captured British and American armoured cars and tanks seized from Ukrainian forces form part of an open-air museum formerly designed to celebrate the Soviet Red Army’s victory over Hitler in World War Two.
Described as a celebration of Russia’s success ‘against Ukrainian militants and their Western supporters’, the captured vehicles were displayed beneath red banners reading ‘Our victory is inevitable’.
But the war, now into its third year, shows no signs of a swift end.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said the Geese 9 Unit were responsible for taking out the radar complex at an undisclosed location over the weekend, adding that it was a new piece of technology that has only been deployed since 2015.
The Podlyot system detects targets and sends coordinates to anti-aircraft systems.
Video showed how it was knocked out, before another drone flew into the station powering the radar system, destroying it.
Ukrainian intelligence wrote after the radar attack: ‘Successful fire damage was inflicted on the antenna-feeder installation and the diesel station that fed the complex.’
Volodymyr Zelensky has used drones against Russia to great effect amid the ongoing conflict, with several Russian warplanes destroyed in recent weeks.
But Russia made no mention of this in the Moscow exhibition glorifying Russian victories, due to be open for a month. It features an American Bradley tank, a Swedish CV90 and a French-made AMX-10RC armoured fighting vehicle.
Weapons and tanks from nine other countries including Turkey, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Finland, Australia and Austria are also set to feature in the show, along with Ukrainian combat documents and ‘ideological literature’.
Precision missiles, sea drones, and British tanks are some of the top weapons being used to fight Putin, and a $60.8billion aid package from the US was passed earlier this month allowing for more foreign weapons to be bought.
But as the battlefield has changed substantially in recent months, Ukraine has been forced to sideline its use of $10million Abrams tanks sent over from the US because they’re too difficult to use without being detected or attacked by Russian drones.
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The US sent 31 Abrams to Ukraine in January 2023 after a months-long campaign by Kyiv arguing they were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.
The use of Russian surveillance drones and hunter-killer drones has made it more difficult for Ukraine to protect the tanks, and five of the 31 have been destroyed in the last three months.
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Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.