Ukrainian soldier named “Vetter” Drone Leleka-100, and sails wide-eyed with his colleague “Kabli” in their laptop screens, installed in the trunk of their SUV, in anticipation of what the march will reveal to them of the precious targets of the enemy deep in Ukrainian territory.
They discovered huge mechanisms of the Russian forces hiding among the trees in the city of Kherson.. They rushed to transmit the coordinates to the Ukrainian forces, which in turn rushed to bomb their “valuable catch”, according to the newspaper. “Washington Post”.
As Russian forces in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine are trying to seize the front line near the town of Dudchane after a strategic withdrawal along the western bank of the Dnieper River. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army is trying to regain more territory before reinforcements arrive from the mobilization of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The “Falcon” unit of the Ukrainian Regional Defense Forces in Kryvyi Rih allowed Washington Post reporters to cover a day of fighting there.
The “Falcon” unit uses small Ukrainian-made “Leleka-100” drones, which are able to stay in the air for about two hours and cover a distance of about 40 kilometers.
Unit members focus on discovering what they call “fat targets” in the form of armored vehicles, ammunition reserves and Russian artillery batteries.
In the plains of Kherson region, it is difficult for the Russians to hide their equipment from Ukrainian drones.
On one occasion, a Falcon unit using drones managed to spot a Russian artillery battery hidden among the trees. The coordinates were immediately sent to the Ukrainian artillery, and soon afterwards plumes of smoke were seen rising.
One of the operators of Ukrainian drones, “Kabli”, says that their task is to identify the target, the strength and importance of its fortifications, and track all military equipment, while the artillery provided by the United States to Kiev takes over the task of destroying the targets.
The newspaper shows that most of the “Falcon” unit did not have any combat experience before the Russian invasion, as some of them worked as cameramen for local television channels before the war.
Kapli said that Russian forces are massing near the town of Milov to defend their stronghold in the occupied town of Nova Kakhovka on the opposite bank of the river. There, Moscow seized a hydroelectric power plant and controls vital water supplies to Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
The artillery battery spotted by the Falcon unit was near the nearby village of Chervuni Yar. A second drone flight confirmed that the equipment was still in place, and Slobodian passed more screenshots of the location, reading its coordinates.
Neither he nor Capelli nor most of his unit had any combat experience prior to the all-out Russian invasion. Slobodian and Gary Wagner, who runs the drone with him, were photographers for Ukrainian television channels before the war.
After fundraising, Falcon commander Ole Ladenko in April purchased a Leleka drone, which can fly 25 miles and stay in the air for two hours before needing a battery change.
Sometimes the 128th Brigade would ask the Falcon to check out certain locations, or follow a Russian line of tanks to see where they were going.