RIGHT SPEAK: UKRaine is Building an Advanced Army of Drones; UKR's Drones Hits Record Number of Enemy Guns Last Week; UKR Hits Ru Command Post in Occupied Kherson Oblast; UKR Forces Advance South of Bakhmut; 5 RU Ammo Depots Destroyed in Tavria Direction, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Ukraine is building an advanced army of drones. For now, pilots improvise with duct tape and bombs:

Flying above enemy lines, a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone sends a clear image back to soldiers hiding in a basement a few kilometers away: A Russian armored vehicle is idling along a key logistics route, looking like easy prey in the artillery-scarred green landscape.

Then, in a flash, the image disappears, and the drone operator’s screen is replaced by a jumble of black and white pixels.

“Snow,” says a calm commander known by the battlefield name Giocondo, who allowed The Associated Press to follow him and his unit of drone pilots on condition of anonymity to protect their identities. High-tech warfare cuts two ways, and the Russians use electronic beams to disable the drone’s signals.

Seconds later, the drone pilot switches to a frequency the Russians cannot easily exploit. The bird’s-eye image of the armored vehicle reappears, and a second drone – this one laden with explosives – is quickly launched. It zips toward the target.

Nineteen months into the Russian invasion, and as a grueling counteroffensive grinds on, the Ukrainian government wants to spend more than $1 billion to upgrade its drone-fighting capabilities. Whether used for reconnaissance, dropping bombs or self-exploding on impact, drones save money, and soldiers’ lives. They are also more precise than traditional artillery — which is in short supply — and can deliver outsized impacts, such as real-time mapping of the battlefield, destroying tanks and ships, and bringing Russian advances to a halt.

The advantages of drones can be fleeting, however. The Russian army, which relies on Iranian expertise for its own horde of deadly drones, quickly catches up each time Giocondo’s unit gains an edge. Success, he says, lies in constant battlefield iteration and innovation.

Ukraine’s minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, says the government is committed to building a state-of-the-art “army of drones” and that its value to the war effort will be evident by the end of this year. The country has already trained more than 10,000 new drone pilots this year.

“A new stage of the war will soon begin,” Fedorov promises.

PERFECT TARGET

Giocondo’s unit operates near the occupied town of Svatove, in northeastern Ukraine. It has spent months modifying drones to enable them to fly deeper behind enemy lines and to better evade Russian detection and sabotage. --->READ MORE HERE

infographics

Ukraine's Army of Drones hits record number of enemy guns last week:

The strike units of Ukraine's Army of Drones hit 205 pieces of Russian military equipment, including 64 guns, during September 18-25.

That's according to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Development of Education, Science and Technology and Minister of Digital Transformation, Ukrinform reports.

"Our soldiers continue to hit the guns that prevent them from moving forward. We have a new record — minus 64 Russian guns," he wrote.

In total, Ukrainian soldiers hit 205 pieces of enemy equipment in the past week, including 27 Russian tanks, 55 trucks, 38 armored combat vehicles, and 3 pieces of radio equipment.

Ukrainian defenders also neutralized 68 Russian troops.

"Powerful results. We are strengthening the defense forces with drones across the entire front line and we thank them for the protection," Fedorov added. --->READ MORE HERE