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Video: Watch Ukraine Shoot Down ‘Secret’ Russian Kartograf Drone

Kartograf
Kartograf drone being shut down. Image Credit: Twitter video screenshot.

Kartograf drone attacked in Ukraine last week: Video footage shared online last week, which depicts a Soviet-made missile system shooting down a Russian UAV, highlights the sheer power of even some of the older weapons systems being used in the Ukraine conflict.

The video footage, shared on Telegram and also on by multiple war analysis accounts on Twitter, shows a rocket being launched into the sky and leaving behind a long trail of white smoke. As the rocket gets further into the distance, it eventually strikes a Russian drone and creates a small blast. The stream of white smoke immediately ends, and both the rocket and the UAV fall to the ground.

“A so-called ‘Kartograf’ UAV of the Russian forces was shot down by the Ukrainian army using a 9K37M1 Buk-M1 SAM system,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes in a post accompanying the video.

The footage wasn’t dissimilar to a clip shared on Twitter on July, which showed the same Ukrainian 9K37M1 Buk-M1 SAM system being used in combat. Ukrainian sources said that the footage, seen below, showed a Russian UAV being taken out by the ammunition.

Photographs of the latest wreckage were also shared online, and reposted by Ukraine Weapons Tracker.

The photographs include close-up shots of the remains of the rocket and the drone. The images also revealed that the Russian drone was held together using plastic zip-ties – an indication that Russian soldiers continue to repair broken equipment using whatever parts they can find on the battlefield.

It’s not the first time that a Russian drone has been taken apart by Ukrainian soldiers. In April, video footage released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense showed a Ukrainian soldier taking apart a captured Russian drone. It quickly went viral, as the Ukrainian soldier revealed how the drone was held together using duct tape.

A consumer-level DSLR camera was also fitted inside of the drone, and the fuel tank’s cap was replaced with a bottle cap.

What Is the Kartograf?

The “Kartograf” drone is a secret UAV used by the Russian forces. Little is known about the drone as Russia has not disclosed information about the device, though several of them have been shot down by the Ukrainian forces.

After being shot down, Ukrainian forces discovered that the drone typically features 12 camera lenses and is designed to help the Russian military create terrain plans. A surveillance drone, it is unknown just how many of the devices are currently in use by the Russian military.

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.

Written By

Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive's Breaking News Editor. He 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.

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