Russia strikes Ukraine with updated 'Shahed' drones: experts reveal Putin's new strategy
The occupiers aim to conduct more massive attacks by lowering the cost of drones.
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Putin's army attack Ukraine with updated 'Shaheds', which can cause a big fire. TSN.ua collage
During recent attacks, Putin's forces have targeted Ukraine with 'Shahed' drones equipped with thermobaric warheads. This information was shared by the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Examinations in a comment to TSN.ua.
According to experts from this institute, the mass use of drones with thermobaric warheads has not yet been observed.
“If other 'Shaheds' have a fragmentation-explosive effect, these operate through pressure, temperature, and chemical elements. In other words, it’s a different mode of impact,” experts at the institute explain.
Vladyslav Seleznyov, a former spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and military expert, commented on the upgraded 'Shaheds': “In this case, the primary impact on the target is through temperature. These drones are designed to ignite their targets. For example, whereas a fragmentation-explosive warhead produces an explosion and shrapnel, these drones create conditions that induce fires.”
According to the analyst, the enemy is currently seeking all possible ways to reduce drone production costs to carry out more massive attacks and overwhelm Ukraine’s air defense systems.
“The occupiers use several hundred drones per week, and only a few percent reach their targets. Therefore, they are exploring every means to scale up production and increase damage in Ukraine,” Seleznyov says.
He adds: “The target of such 'Shaheds' can be any object. Wherever they hit, the occupiers consider it a success. The destruction of civilian targets is aimed at fostering despair within Ukrainian society. October saw a record number of 'Shahed' attacks and their equivalents - over 2,000. Two months ago, prominent Ukrainian experts claimed that such numbers were impossible, that Russia's defense industry couldn’t supply even a thousand drones. But the reality is 2,000.”
At the same time, experts refute claims that the new 'Shaheds' are more dangerous than their predecessors: “Preliminary information indicates that this is not the case. Each 'Shahed' carries deadly risk, but the power of these new drones is at least not greater than that of earlier models.”
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