The war in Ukraine has been nothing but an unmitigated disaster for Russian President Putin and the Russian military overall.
Putin has tried time and time again to regain the initiative and failed. Many experts even now believe that Putin will never be able to go back on the offensive.
What happens next? Well, social media can give us vital clues on what is going on in near-real-time.
The War in Ukraine: An Update from Social Media
A video shared by the Ukrainian military and later reposted to Twitter shows how Ukrainian forces continue to take out Russian military vehicles using grenades dropped from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The clip shows how an operator from the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces expertly maneuvers the drone, dropping a grenade directly into an open hatch on the vehicle.
After the drone drops the munition directly into the hatch, it quickly rises into the air to escape the coming explosion. A small blast ensues that causes major damage to the inside of the vehicle.
Ukraine Weapons Tracker, a popular war-tracking Twitter account that shared the clip on Twitter, noted that the drone used in this attack is a commercially-available drone. Given the huge number of drones donated to Ukraine’s war effort, it’s hard to say exactly what drone was used – however, it could be one of thousands of Chinese-made DJI camera drones already in use on the battlefield by both Russian and Ukrainian forces.
“The Ukrainian Air Assault Forces destroyed a Russian MT-LB armoured vehicle with ZU-23-2 autocannon using an F-1 grenade dropped from a commercial drone,” the post reads.
An Inside Look On Commercial Drone Use In Ukraine
Speaking to a former IT programmer who serves as a Ukrainian soldier, Reuters recently reported how $300 commercially-available drones are being modified for use on the battlefield.
The soldier, who goes by the call sign Kakrurt, told the news outlet that his team regularly repurposes commercial four-rotor drones.
“Our team has done it many times. We have destroyed enemy tanks, heavy military equipment, personnel. It’s a very effective gadget,” Kakrurt, who serves in the 35th Marine Brigade, said.
The soldier also said that Ukraine is heavily invested in using the drones on the battlefield as a way of conducting strikes without risking losing expensive equipment, and without risking the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
“It’s better to make effective use of technical resources instead of people. That’s why the Ukrainian Armed Forces are developing very, very quickly in this direction,” Kakrurt said, adding that his team regularly uses commercial “civilian drones” because they are easy to get hold of and easy to adapt.
Another soldier told Reuters that Ukraine will use kamikaze-style drones, which are designed to explode upon impact, as part of the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. Specifically, the soldier said that the drones would be used to attack trenches where Russian forces seek shelter.
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian Air Assault Forces destroyed a Russian MT-LB armoured vehicle with ZU-23-2 autocannon using an F-1 grenade dropped from a commercial drone. pic.twitter.com/q4SygKAlLZ
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 1, 2023
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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