Oorlog in Oekraïne #979: Drone Wars

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White House: Ukraine can shoot down hostile aircraft over Russia
Ukrainian forces are not limited to striking Russian warplanes that pose a potential threat or drop guided bombs from Russian territory.
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said in response to a question about whether the permission for Ukrainian forces to use U.S.-made weapons involves striking Russian bombers outside Ukraine.

"I just want to note, there has been some confusion on this. There's never been a restriction on the Ukrainians shooting down hostile aircraft, even if those aircraft are not necessarily in Ukrainian airspace," Kirby said.

He specified that the Ukrainian Armed Forces "can shoot down Russian airplanes that pose an impending threat."

In addition, according to him, Ukrainian forces have been doing this since the beginning of the war.

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China claims its 'peace plan' already supported by dozens of countries. Ukraine's MFA reacts
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Ukraine and Russia allegedly separately "affirmed most of the content" of the war settlement plan
After China's refusal to participate in the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, the country's Foreign Minister Wang Yi claimed that the Chinese "peace plan" was supported by 26 countries of the world, reported Bloomberg.

Wang clarified that a total of 45 countries have expressed positive views on China's proposals, of which 26 are fully ready to support the "peace plan". At the same time, he added, Ukraine and Russia separately "affirmed most of the content" of the principles for a political solution outlined by China and Brazil in a joint statement in May 2024.

The Chinese diplomat did not indicate that the main demand of Kyiv to Moscow is the withdrawal of occupation troops from the territory of Ukraine, in particular, from those that were occupied by Russia during the first invasion.

Wang Yi added that "conditions are not yet ready for peace talks," so China will "make its own decisions" about participating in such meetings.

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Drones of the 92nd Brigade hit over 500 targets in the Kharkiv region

^{Destroyed Russian T-80BV tank in Kharkiv region. May 2024. Ukraine. A frame from the video of the FLIGHT CLUB unit}

In May, soldiers of the 92nd ‘Ivan Sirko’ Assault Brigade hit hundreds of targets in the Kharkiv region with drones.

The brigade’s drone operators reported that at least 557 targets were hit.

To detect and destroy targets, the brigade involves aerial reconnaissance men of the Attack Drone Group “Flight Club”, the Attack Drone Battalion “Achilles”, and other units with attack drones.

According to published data, 141 units of equipment were damaged, and another 45 units of equipment were completely destroyed.

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The Russians installed ZU-23-2 on the Japanese Toyota HMV military SUV

^{ZU-23-2 based on a Japanese SUV. Source: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation}

The Russians have turned a Japanese demilitarized Toyota HMV SUV into a mobile firing platform with a ZU-23-2.

The Russian Ministry of Defense published the video of the equipment.

The video shows that the firing platform includes a portable electronic warfare device in addition to the 23-mm anti-aircraft gun.

So, obviously, the platform is primarily designed to counter drones. However, the Russian Ministry of Defense also writes about the use of the system against Ukrainian infantry.

This platform is reportedly being used by Russian occupation forces near the village of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region.

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As Russia’s Armored Vehicles Get Worse, Ukraine’s American-Made M-2s Destroy Them Faster
Thirteen-ton Russian MT-LBs are no match for 34-ton Ukrainian M-2s.


In 28 months of hard fighting, Russia’s military has lost around 4,000 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles—the two types of armored vehicle that haul troops into battle. That’s around 150 destroyed Russian APCs and more-heavily-armed IFVs a month, on average, that the analysts at Oryx have visually confirmed.

Ukrainian losses are much lower: around a thousand APCs and IFVs since Russia widened its war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Last month, Russian losses spiked—to a staggering 288 APCs and IFVs, according to analyst Andrew Perpetua, who also tallies vehicle losses in Ukraine. “This is only what we could see and count,” Perpetua stressed.

It’s apparent what’s happening. Around the ruins of the eastern city of Avdiivka, one of the most violent sectors of the 700-mile front line in Ukraine, the Ukrainians are deploying better vehicles, while the Russians are deploying worse ones. When the Ukrainian and Russian vehicles clash, the Russians get beaten—badly.

A pair of videos that circulated on social media over the past month graphically illustrate the vehicular imbalance. In both cases, Ukraine’s American-made M-2 Bradley IFVs took on Russian APCs—and demolished them. Potentially dozens of Russians died in the two skirmishes.

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Russia attacked Ukraine with 27 drones, air defense systems downed 22
Russian forces launched another kamikaze drone attack on Ukraine during the night of June 5. Air defenses managed to intercept all but five of the 27 drones that were launched, citing the Commander of the Air Forces, Mykola Oleshchuk.

"On the night of June 5, 2024, the occupiers attacked with 27 Shahed-131/136 strike UAVs from the Kursk region of the Russian Federation and Chauda Cape in Crimea," he said.

To counter the aerial assault, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare units of the Air Force, and mobile fire groups of Ukraine’s Defense Forces were deployed.

"As a result of the anti-air battle, 22 Shaheds were shot down over the Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Poltava regions," Oleshchuk added.

Russian drone attack on Ukraine
On the evening of June 4, alarms were sounded in several regions of Ukraine. According to the Air Force, there was a threat of strike drones in the Sumy, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions.

Air defenses were active in five regions of Ukraine, mostly in the south. According to the regional military administrations, four drones were shot down in the Dnipropetrovsk region: two in the Kryvyi Rih district and one each in the Dnipro and Nikopol districts. Six Russian drones were downed in the Mykolayiv region.

Previously, the downing of a Shahed drone was reported by the Ukrainian Navy.

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Moldova’s former Chief of the General Staff worked for Russia

^{Igor Gorgan, Former Chief of the General Staff of Moldova. Photo credits: UN}

Russian intelligence recruited Moldova’s former Chief of General Staff, who worked until the end of 2021 and wanted Russia to invade the country.

The Insider has gained access to the Telegram correspondence between Igor Gorgan, former Chief of the General Staff of Moldova, and his GRU handler, Russian Colonel Alexei Makarov.

Gorgan regularly reported to Makarov on Moldova’s domestic political situation and provided information on visits from Ukrainian Ministry of Defense representatives, who came to Moldova to purchase military equipment and ammunition.

Gorgan served in the General Staff until late 2021, when the country’s new president Maia Sandu requested his resignation.

Before the July 2023 mass expulsion of Russian spies working in Moldova under diplomatic cover in Moldova, Gorgan even managed to secure a job at the UN.

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Ukrainian defenders inflict heavy losses on Russian troops in south front

^{Photo: Ukrainian Armed Forces destroy two Russian Pantsir systems in the south (wikipedia.org)}

The Ukrainian military destroyed two Russian air defense systems in the southern direction. They also eliminated two points - the command and control center for drones, according to the head of the Joint Coordination Press Center of the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine Dmytro Pletenchuk.

“Minus two Rusian Pantsirs in our direction. The command post and drone control center are also there,” he says.

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Russia fears ahead of Belgium's double EU and national elections
Two leading Belgian parties have hit back at allegations they were Russia-friendly, as the EU host-state prepares for double elections.

MEPs from the rightwing Flemish NVA party and the far-left PVDA party told EUobserver they fully aligned with mainstream Western views condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The NVA's Assita Kanko, an MEP, said on Monday (3 June): "There is absolutely no connection between the Russian regime and my political party or our candidates. We fully support Ukraine".

"Two weeks ago, I met a delegation of Ukrainian mothers in the European Parliament. I heard their stories and saw their tears, felt their pain," she added.

Marc Botenga, an MEP from PVDA, said the Russia allegations were "preposterous".

The PVDA had opposed Russian president Vladimir Putin's regime for over 20 years due to its greed and "barbarity", Botenga said.

"We firmly condemned Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine from day one ... Russia must stop its invasion and withdraw all its troops," he added.

The allegations of undue “Russian influence” in Belgium’s Flemish political scene were chronicled in a 37-page dossier circulated on Monday by a Belgian politician of Ukrainian origin, Marta Barandiy, who is running to become an MEP.

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AfD politician exposed for creating pro-Russian influence network in Europe
Politician Petr Bystron of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party helped create a pro-Russian network in Europe, an investigation has found. Source: DW

Czech investigators believe that the involvement of Bystron, a member of the right-wing populist AfD party, in a pro-Russian propaganda network was much deeper than previously believed, European media reported.

Bystron, who ranks second on the AfD list in the European Parliament elections, not only received money, but also actively tried to influence events, writes Die Zeit. According to several sources, such conclusions were made based on intercepted conversations.

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Belarusian hackers target Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence in new espionage campaign
Belarusian state-sponsored hackers targeted Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence and a military base in a new cyberespionage operation, researchers say.

They attributed the attacks to the threat actor Ghostwriter, a Belarus-linked group known for its attacks on Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. In the latest campaign, observed in April by researchers at the cybersecurity firm Cyble, the hackers sent their targets phishing emails with an attachment that contained drone image files and a malicious Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Researchers said they identified alleged victims based on the content of lure documents.

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Russian soldier who killed 7 comrades with grenade given 23-year sentence
A Russian soldier was sentenced to 23 years in a maximum security penal colony by a military court on Wednesday for killing seven soldiers from another unit when he threw a grenade into an army barrack, state news agency TASS reported.

Dmitry Lobovikov, a sergeant from the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals, was found guilty of multiple counts of murder, illegal possession of explosive devices and the deliberate destruction of property by explosion. He was also fined 70,000 rubles (¤700) and stripped of his military rank.

A heavily intoxicated Lobovikov threw a grenade into a barrack in Russia’s Belgorod region in January 2023, after allegedly attempting to reprimand the troops for their poor behaviour, state-affiliated daily RBC reported.

The grenade detonated flammable gas cylinders, killing seven people and injuring 16 others.

At the trial, Lobovikov’s lawyers requested the court acquit their client of all charges, claiming that he had had no intention of killing his comrades, blaming the incident on “stupidity and alcohol”.

Lobovikov’s lawyers argued that the grenade had slipped out of their client’s hands when he lost consciousness after mixing sedatives with alcohol. While the jury ultimately found him guilty, they did also note that he was “deserving of leniency”.

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Roissy-en-France: A Ukrainian-Russian in police custody after burning himself while making an explosive, the anti-terrorism prosecution seized.
The arrested man, aged 26, was from Russian-speaking Donbass. An investigation was opened by the national anti-terrorism prosecution and the DGSI was contacted.

A man of Ukrainian and Russian nationality, originally from Russian-speaking Donbass, was arrested in Roissy-en-France (Val-d'Oise) on Monday June 3, BFMTV learned from a source close to the matter, confirming information from JDD . The man, aged 26, was treated with serious burns around 4:30 p.m., after having made an explosive, and transported to a hospital center.

The first findings made it possible to discover on site products and materials intended for the manufacture of explosive devices, specifies the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office to BFMTV. One of them having exploded. The hotel had to be evacuated.

Anti-terrorism prosecution seized
The explosives were designed using an old method which consists of connecting them to a telephone to trigger them with a telephone call, corroborating sources tell BFMTV. Several passports were found on site.

In the early evening, around 9 p.m., the suspect was taken into police custody following his treatment. The divestment is then decided in favor of the national anti-terrorism prosecution and the DGSI.

An investigation was opened by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday June 4 into charges of "participation in a terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing crimes of personal injury" and "possession of an incendiary or explosive substance or product or elements intended to compose an incendiary or explosive device with a view to preparing destruction, damage or harm to persons, in relation to a terrorist enterprise.”

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Russia: Gazprom will need at least a decade to recover the gas sales volumes lost due to sanctions
The company's exports to Europe will average between 50 and 75 billion cubic meters per year by 2035, just a third of pre-war levels

The Russian energy company Gazprom It is unlikely that it will be able to recover the natural gas sales volumes lost following the invasion of Ukraine within a decade. This was reported in a report commissioned by Gazprom itself and taken up by the British newspaper "Financial Times". The company's exports to Europe will average between 50 and 75 billion cubic meters per year by 2035, just a third of pre-war levels, according to estimates from the Russian energy giant. Although Gazprom hopes that building a new gas pipeline to China – Power of Siberia-2 – will help offset lost European export volumes, its capacity will be only 50 billion cubic meters per year and prices fixed with Beijing they are much lower than those with European countries, as the company's experts note in the report. An agreement on the construction of the connecting infrastructure with China, which should pass through Mongolia, has yet to be reached, Gazprom adds.

“The main consequences of the sanctions for Gazprom and the energy industry are the contraction of export volumes, which will be restored to the 2020 level no earlier than 2035,” the authors of the document wrote. The 151-page report, commissioned by company management and compiled late last year, is among the most candid acknowledgments yet of how Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia's war have damaged Gazprom and the broader Russian energy sector, according to the “Financial Times”.

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Ukraine frustrated with US over F-16 pilot training
Kyiv is increasingly frustrated by the limited training pipeline. The U.S. says it has other customers.

Ukrainian officials are pressing the U.S. and other countries to ramp up their F-16 pilot training, saying the current pipeline isn’t producing enough aviators to fly the jets that will be soon donated to Kyiv.

Ukraine says it has 30 pilots who are eligible to start training in the U.S. immediately. Yet the Biden administration has told Kyiv it lacks the school seats in its Arizona-based program to accept more than 12 pilot trainees at a time, according to three people with direct knowledge of the request. Two other facilities in Denmark and Romania have a similar issue with available training spots.

It’s the latest hurdle in the drawn-out effort to get modern F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Kyiv began pushing for the aircraft in the months following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but was repeatedly rebuffed by the Biden administration. In May 2023, President Joe Biden greenlit other countries’ requests to send their F-16s, but logistical challenges repeatedly delayed the training. Further complicating the effort, it took months for Western countries to agree to send their own aircraft to Ukraine.

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Putin warns that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets
President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory.

Putin also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty.

The recent actions by the West will further undermine international security and could lead to “very serious problems,” he said, taking questions from international journalists — something that has become extremely rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

“That would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way,” Putin added.

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Russian Twitch streamer sentenced to more than 5 years in prison for criticizing the invasion of Ukraine
Anna Bazhutova, known on Twitch as Yokobovich, was arrested in 2023 after streaming witness accounts of Russian massacres in Bucha.

Russian streamer Anna Bazhutova, known on Twitch as Yokobovich, has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for livestreaming witness accounts of alleged atrocities committed by the Russian army during its occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

French news agency AFP, via the Moscow Times, says Bazhutova was found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian army on her Twitch channel. The live broadcast originally occurred in June 2023, according to the report (although other sources, including Radio Free Europe, say the incident took place in 2022), and included witness accounts of massacres carried out by Russian forces. The government of Ukraine has made similar allegations of mass killings conducted by withdrawing Russian forces that left hundreds dead; Russia has rejected the claims and said evidence of the massacres was "staged" by the West.

At some point after Bazhutova's stream, Russian bloggers supporting the war filed complaints with police, shortly after which her home was searched and her electronic devices confiscated. She was later arrested and has reportedly been held in pre-trial detention since August 2023.

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