Nataliia Sad, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s state-owned defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom, published on Facebook an undated photo of her with the Ukrainian Army’s Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, and Ukroboronprom Yurii Husyev, and captioned it, “After the successful 1000 km use of our drone.”
Last October, amid the intensifying Russian air attacks, Ukroboronprom announced the development of a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle with a range of up to 1,000 kilometers, capable of carrying a 75 kg warhead.
Ukraine’s state weapons concern announces suicide drone project
In January, the Ukroboronprom spokesperson said that Ukraine’s new classified attack drone had successfully passed a series of tests, including electronic warfare endurance tests.
Ms. Sad provided no details regarding the aerial vehicle and its target in its first combat use.
The Ukrainian publication Ukrainska Pravda speculates, referring to its alleged sources, that the effective employment of the Ukroboronprom’s UAV occurred on 3 May 2023, when an attack caused a fire at a Russian oil depot in Volna settlement on Russia’s Taman peninsula next to Crimea, some 250 kilometers from the frontline.
Over the last few months, a number of similar attacks on Russia’s fuel infrastructure and other critical facilities took place. Additionally, fires occur almost every day at various Russian factories. Plus, Ukrainian troops carry out multiple strikes on Russian rear military facilities in the occupied parts of Ukraine. Thus, the date and the target of the attack remain unknown so far.
An explosion at Russia’s Tambov gunpowder factory (about 380 km from Ukraine’s border) killed four, injured two, according to Russian media and emergency services
The Tambov governor said that the cause of the fire was the “human factor,” i.e. violation of safety regulations pic.twitter.com/f9KUmkIShu
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 20, 2023
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- Ukrainian 1000-km range suicide drone passes number of tests
- Ukraine’s state weapons concern announces suicide drone project
