A Ukrainian drone factory which helped crush a Russian 'death convoy' claims to have destroyed almost 100 Kremlin vehicles since the start of the invasion.
The Aerorozvidka unit, which means aerial reconnaissance in Ukrainian, is now churning out several state-of-the-art R18 drones every day at its factory.
The drone, which was designed by the unit, is wreaking havoc on Russian invaders and has proved far more effective than the commercial drones previously used by Ukrainian forces.
The R18 played a key role in stopping a 40-mile Russian 'death convoy', made up of tanks and armoured vehicles, that loomed on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv in March.
The drone costs less than £100,000 to manufacture, making it far cheaper than buying military-grade drones from abroad.
Mykhailo, 43, a spokesman for Aerorozvidka, told The Mirror: “We have destroyed almost 100 Russian vehicles.
“The R18 has had a significant impact since the Russian invasion in February. We created it from scratch and it has surveillance and attack functions.
“We were buying commercial drones before but they were not effective enough against vehicles. The R18 can fly longer and carry a heavier payload. We are producing several R18s a day now.
“Each drone costs dozens of thousands of dollars - far cheaper than military drones from the US and elsewhere, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“The R18 can carry up to 5kgs of ammunition. We are using old rocket propelled grenades as weapons.
“We’ve destroyed armoured personnel carriers, tanks, fuel trucks and Grad missile launcher systems. The cost of the vehicles we’ve destroyed is significantly more than the cost of our drones, even if we lose them during the raids.
“Almost every Ukrainian unit has a drone team now. We give drones to the units but we do not fly them. Units tell us if they have successful strikes and we will share videos of them online.”
Mykhailo said the unit originally bought and adapted commercial drones such as the DJI Mavic 2 and the Autel EVO II Dual 640T, which both feature thermal cameras.
He said these drones were only effective in surveillance roles but still cost thousands of pounds each.
“We tried to make a dropping system for them to carry grenades but the effectiveness was low. It had more of an impact on the enemy’s morale,” Mykhailo said.
The unit, which was created after war broke out in the Donbas in 2014, developed the R18 drone in 2016.
It was the culmination of two years of hard work by the unit’s recruits, which included former students, IT professionals and businessmen.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Aerorozvidka has received a flood of donations from people around the world, including the UK.
Aerorozvidka's drones have proved remarkably effective against Russian forces since the start of the invasion.
They played a key part in halting a 40-mile 'death convoy' of Kremlin tanks and armoured vehicles outside Kyiv in March.
They also helped Ukrainian forces repel Russian paratroopers who attacked Hostomel Airport on the first day of the invasion.
Ukrainian forces have also used the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 against Russian forces.
A Kremlin convoy of more than a dozen vehicles was obliterated by the drones, with footage of the attack shared online by Ukraine.
The strike took place near Malyn, a city around 60 miles from Kyiv, around a week after the Russian invasion in February.
Most recently Ukrainian drones destroyed two Russian Raptor patrol boats in the Black Sea as shown in a dramatic video posted to social media earlier this month.
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The vessels were blown up near Snake Island, which was hammered by Russian shelling after its defenders refused to give up.
The 13 Ukrainian troops on the tiny Black Sea island were thought to have been among the first victims of Vladimir Putin’s invasion after they told a Russian warship 'go f*** yourself'.
However, the Ukrainian Navy has now confirmed the soldiers are alive, albeit in Russian captivity.
