Expert: More Kamikaze Drone Attacks Are Coming – Since the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian troops have relied heavily on the 1,000+ U.S.-made Switchblade 300 loitering munition drones. These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are designed to deliver ammunition to enemy targets with great precision, allowing operators to control the drone and strike targets from above using the drone as a guide.
Several video clips have emerged online of these attacks taking place from above, with the video footage recorded by the drone itself. However, new footage shows the impact of these “suicide” drone attacks from the ground.
When recorded from the perspective of the Switchblade drones, the footage always cuts out the moment the strike occurs – making this clip particularly interesting.
Kamikaze Drone – What Happened In Rostov?
The strike occurred on Wednesday morning, according to local authorities, in the Rostov region of Russia.
According to reports by Russia’s TASS state-run news agency, a fire subsequently broke out at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery roughly 5km from the border with Ukraine.
While these “suicide” drones have been used widely by the Ukrainian military, Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack. The imagery, however, clearly shows a military-grade drone committing the attack on Russian soil.
The attack was confirmed by the governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, who said that fragments of two separate drones were recovered from the site.
According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations for Rostov, no casualties were reported. However, 35 people were at the scene during the time of the attack.
TASS also reported a Russian official claiming that the drone was Ukrainian.
“Employees noticed a Ukrainian drone. It crashed into the plant’s structures, after which there was an explosion and fire,” the official said.
Ukraine Within Rights to Target Russian Soil
While Ukraine was denied the long-range weapons requested from NATO in recent months, that hasn’t stopped Ukrainian fighters from striking Russian territory.
Ukraine has been accused of striking Russian soil several times over the last four months, though rarely publicly accepts responsibility for any such attack. In May, Ukraine was accused of a deadly cross-border strike on a Russian village.
Ukrainian troops are well within their rights to strike Russian soil, too. In April, the United States agreed with this assessment, too. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a Senate committee that it was up to the Ukrainian government to decide how to respond to the Russian invasion, and that Kyiv may use any tactics it deems “necessary to defend against Russian aggression.”
Incredible footage of what is said to be a Kamikaze attack by Ukrainian loitering munition on Novoshakhtinsky oil refinery in Rostov region, Russia.#Russia #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/AE3Oi9Df2h
— BlueSauron?️ (@Blue_Sauron) June 22, 2022
British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace also said that any Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil would be considered “legitimate under international law.”
Kamikaze Drone Strikes – Things Will Get Worse: Expert
“Such attacks by both sides, trying to leverage newer weapons of war like drones to hit critical infrastructure, will become more and more commonplace,” explained Harry J. Kazianis, President and CEO of the Rogue States Project. “Both sides are taking massive casualties as the war in Ukraine becomes what looks like a giant bloodbath. I would expect drones to be featured ever more prominently in the battlespace, with both sides thinking of ever more horrific and dangerous ways to use them. I suspect we will see many more videos like this in the weeks and months ahead.”
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
