A Ukrainian R18 attack drone destroyed camouflaged Russian armor, as can be seen from these images.
The video shows the drone’s targeting system searching for the enemy before it locates the camouflaged Russian vehicle and drops a bomb on it, which explodes.
The footage was obtained from the NGO Aerorozvidka, which manufactures the R18 drone and which is affiliated with the Ukrainian military. They said in a statement on Monday, August 8: “Another camouflaged unit of the occupier’s equipment went to hang out with the Russian ship. The R18 combat drone worked as it should!”
It is understood that the ‘Russian ship’ is a reference to the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, which sank on April 14. Ukraine said that it had fired missiles at the ship but Russia claimed that the vessel had sunk as a result of a fire that broke out on board.
The images were also relayed by the Office of Strategic Communications (StratCom) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, along with a short statement on Tuesday, August 9, saying: “Ukrainian drone operators are always at their best. In the footage, a R18 combat drone destroys the camouflaged armor of the Rashists. You can’t hide from these guys!”
‘Rashist’ is a term that is often used by the Ukrainian forces when referring to the Russian invaders. It is a combination of the words ‘Russia’ and ‘fascism’.
Zenger News contacted the NGO Aerorozvidka for further comment, as well as the Russian Ministry of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Tuesday marks the 167th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and August 9, Russia had lost about 42,640 personnel, 1,817 tanks, 4,076 armored combat vehicles, 964 artillery units, 261 multiple launch rocket systems, 133 air defense systems, 223 warplanes, 193 helicopters, 757 drones, 185 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 2,998 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 87 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
The Pentagon said on Monday that Russia had suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties since the beginning of its invasion. Colin Kahl, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, said: “There’s a lot of fog in war but I think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in the less than six months. Now, that is a combination of killed in action and wounded in action and that number might be a little lower, a little higher, but I think that’s kind of in the ballpark.”
Russia has suspended a deal that allowed U.S. and Russian inspectors to visit each other’s nuclear arsenals under the New START treaty, signed in 2010. The inspections had been on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed on Monday that it was also withdrawing from it because its inspectors are unable to travel to the U.S. due to sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has said that the United States will provide an additional $4.5 billion to Ukraine’s government.
The Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom has said that it is highly likely that Russia is “deploying anti-personnel mines to protect and deter freedom of movement along its defensive lines in the Donbas.” The mines, described as PFM-1 and PFM-1s ‘butterfly mines’ “have the potential to inflict widespread casualties amongst both the military and the local civilian population.”
Ukrainian and British military authorities have said that Russia is fortifying its positions and the number of its troops on the southern front in Ukraine, either in preparation of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive or preparing themselves to attack.
The Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom said: “Russian troops are almost certainly amassing in the south, either waiting for a Ukrainian counteroffensive or preparing to attack. Long convoys of Russian military trucks, tanks, artillery and other things continue to move from the Donbas to the southwest.”
Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom, has requested that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest – be made a military-free zone and has warned of the risk of a nuclear disaster like that seen at Chernobyl after repeated shelling at the site caused a reactor shutdown on Saturday.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has called for new international sanctions on Russia, accusing it of nuclear terror.
Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other over the shelling. The United Nations has also called for international inspectors to be given access to the nuclear power plant.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog has called for all military actions near the nuclear power plant to cease after it was hit by shelling on Saturday night. The shelling reportedly caused a reactor to shut down, creating a “very real risk of a nuclear disaster”.
