Ukraine’s massive and widespread drone attacks against Russia on the eve of talks between the US and Ukraine employed exactly the same tactics as Moscow has used to terrorise its neighbour for three years: the swarm.
If the Kremlin’s figures are to be believed – they usually are not, but in this case they might be accurate – Ukraine flew 337 aircraft into Russian airspace.
The drones used are made in Ukraine, employ the latest technology, and were sent in such numbers that Russian air defences were unable to cope.
Most nights, Ukraine is hit by waves of 100-200 cheap Shahed drones – a 40kg bomb powered by a lawnmower engine – which are sent along with ballistic missiles carrying half a tonne of high explosives.
These swarms are intended to distract and overwhelm Ukraine’s defences, and lately have included dummy drones carrying no explosives, which are used to waste a multi-million dollar air-defence missile supplied by Europe or the US.
In a show of strength and defiance after the US cut military and intelligence support for Kyiv, Ukraine has now done the same.
However, its drones are higher grade and use the latest technology to get around Russian radar, avoid its surface-to-air missiles, and fly on to targets accurately by navigating themselves.
The development of a huge unmanned air force has been driven by a Ukrainian government announcement earlier this year that it would produce 30,000 long-range drones and 3,000 ballistic missiles.
Ukraine used to be the main producer of rockets for the Soviet space programme. Its second city, Kharkiv, remains a world centre for rocket science, and its development of drone technology has been supercharged by arms investors from around the world keen to cash in on Ukraine’s unparalleled experience in this new kind of warfare.
“We’re leading the world in some of this weapons technology and we just need a bit more time to get right ahead of the Russians,” said a senior officer in the new Ukrainian UAV Force.
The Ukrainian air attack against Russia hit oil refineries as well as Moscow and killed three people, Russian officials have said. Fourteen Ukrainians were killed in Russian air attacks on Saturday.
Russia was probably hit by Ukraine’s homegrown Palianytsia “missile-drone” which carries a 50kg warhead and can fly 600km at about 800kph.
Moscow’s four airports were shut down and an apartment block was hit, while refineries came under attack in Russia’s Oryol region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "All (defensive) measures and actions were carried out in advance, in good time. And this allows for the protection of Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as many other regions."
Ukraine has asked for an air and naval ceasefire as part of its negotiations for peace. The US has ruled out Ukraine recovering its lost territory, as well as Nato support and indefinite military aid and intelligence sharing – all bargaining chips that could have been used by Ukraine.
The attacks on Moscow were intended to show Vladimir Putin that even with the vocal backing of the Trump administration, Ukraine is capable of hurting Russia.
Peskov said the visiting secretary general of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Feridun Sinirlioglu, had been shown the damage caused by the attack on Moscow.
"It's important that he was shown the aftermath of the attack. But more importantly, what the Kyiv regime is hitting – residential buildings," said Peskov.
That’s not a statement that will trouble Zelensky.
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