Inside a secretive Ukrainian team launching deep drone strikes at Russia
News
Elite Ukrainian military unit uses drones to weaken Kremlin’s war machine
EASTERN UKRAINE — As the sun sets on a vast farm field, soldiers in full body armor pull over on a dirt road and unload what looks like a miniature jet from a truck.
“Our beautiful drone,” one of the soldiers says.
Details
This drone, made by Fire Point, a Ukrainian defense technology company, can travel between 800 and 1,200 miles. Ukraine’s military has used drones like these to repeatedly hit oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia, including Moscow and even Siberia. On June 18, Ukraine launched its largest drone offensive yet on Moscow and hit an oil refinery. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky as residents reported a flurry of “oil rain.”
The drones have also hit targets in Russian-occupied Ukraine, including the southern peninsula of Crimea, which Russia overran and annexed in 2014. In the last few weeks, Ukrainian drones have struck supply routes for Russian troops as well as railroad bridges, ferry crossings and oil refineries. “Crimea is being isolated by drones,” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in an interview with a prominent Ukrainian journalist. “And in the near future, it looks as though Crimea will beco
The Ukrainian strike campaign, which started in earnest in 2024 but drastically scaled up this year, has helped Ukraine gain momentum in a grueling war of attrition more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Analysis
“Ukrainians can, on a near daily basis, launch hundreds of daily long-range strike vehicles into Russia that actually generate substantial damage and really do upset the Kremlin,” said George Barros, director of innovation and open-source tradecraft at the Institute for the Study of War. “It is an important aspect of the overall Ukrainian strategy to defend itself and end the war on terms favorable to Ukraine.”
The soldiers in this farm field who are carrying Fire Point’s large but lightweight drones are part of a secretive strike team called the First Separate Center of Unmanned Systems. NPR recently visited the unit as they launched deep strikes at Russian targets. NPR is identifying the soldiers by callsign at the request of Ukraine’s military, which cites security concerns.
“Follow me,” says the unit’s commander, who uses the callsign Charlie, as he leads us deeper into the farm field. “There are more drones down here.”
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