Ukrainian soldier named “Vetter” Drone Leleka-100, and wanders with his colleague “Kabli” wide-eyed in the screens of their laptops, installed in the trunk of their SUV, waiting for what the march will reveal to them of the precious targets of the enemy deep in the Ukrainian territory.
They discovered huge mechanisms of the Russian forces hidden in the trees in the city of Kherson. “Washington Post”.
While Russian forces in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine are trying to seize the front line near the city of Dudchane after a strategic retreat along the western bank of the Dnieper River. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army is trying to regain more territory before reinforcements arrive from the mobilization of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The “Falcon” unit of the Ukrainian regional defense forces in Kryvyi Rih allowed Washington Post reporters to cover a day of fighting there.
The “Falcon” unit uses small Ukrainian-made “Leleka-100” drones, which are able to remain in the air for about two hours and cover a distance of about 40 kilometers.
Unit members focus on discovering what they call “fat targets” in the form of Russian armored vehicles, ammunition reserves and artillery batteries.
In the lowlands of the Kherson region, it is difficult for Russians to hide their equipment from Ukrainian drones.
On one occasion, a Falcon unit using drones managed to locate a Russian artillery battery hidden in the trees. The coordinates were immediately sent to the Ukrainian artillery and immediately afterwards plumes of smoke were seen rising.
One of the Ukrainian drone operators, “Kabli”, says their job is to identify the purpose, strength and importance of its fortifications and track all military equipment, while US-supplied artillery in Kiev hires the task of destroying the targets.
The paper shows that most of the “Falcon” unit had no combat experience prior to the Russian invasion, as some of them worked as cameramen for local television channels before the war.
Kapli said Russian forces are massing near the town of Milov to defend their stronghold in the occupied town of Nova Kakhovka on the opposite bank of the river. There, Moscow has seized a hydroelectric power plant and controls vital water supplies to Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
The artillery battery spotted by the Falcon unit was near the nearby village of Chervuni Yar. A second drone flight confirmed that the equipment was still in place and Slobodian passed more screenshots of the location, reading its coordinates.
Neither he nor Capley, nor most of his unit had any combat experience prior to the all-out Russian invasion. Slobodian and Gary Wagner, who runs the drone with him, were photographers for Ukrainian TV channels before the war.
After the fundraiser, Falcon commander Ole Ladenko bought a Leleka drone in April, which can fly 25 miles and stay in the air for two hours before needing to replace the battery.
Sometimes the 128th Brigade would ask the Falcon to check out certain places or follow a line of Russian tanks to see where they were going.
