Ukrainian forces have intercepted and captured another Russian reconnaissance drone in the war zone of Donbas, the Ukrainian military reported on Jan. 25.
The military said the successful operation to capture the drone took place on Jan. 23 at the near the towns of Pavlopil and Hnutove on the front line, some 20 kilometers northeast of key Azov Sea port city of Mariupol in southern Donetsk Oblast.
“By using radio-electric warfare means, the military impeded the vehicle’s flight, landed it, then we found and recovered it,” the headquarters said.
“After being inspected by military engineers, the vehicle was handed over to specialists for identification and further study. It was determined that the unmanned aerial vehicle was a Granat-2 drone produced by the defense industries of the Russian Federation.”
According to open-source data, the Granat family drones were designed by a private Russian company, Izhmash – Bespilotnye Sistemy, based in the city of Izhevks, the capital of Russia’s Udmurtiya region.
These unmanned aerial vehicles are indeed operated by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of Russian security and law enforcement agencies. In late October 2018, the Russian army’s Western military district reported that the latest model of the drone, the Granat-4, had been operated by Russian units for the first time during exercises in Tambov Oblast.
According to Ukraine’s military, Russia has provided the Granat drones to its proxy forces in the Donbas for conducting aerial reconnaissance and artillery spotting. They have an action range of 15 kilometers, and can cruise at heights of up to 4,000 meters at speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour.
They are normally equipped with photo- and video hardware, and also can be engaged in nighttime missions using thermal vision scopes. The Ukrainian military noted that the captured drone had been actively exploited before its interception, and even had a bullet hole on its wing patched with sticky tape.
“This particular drone will never again work in the aggressor’s interests,” they added.
“All data from its digital recorders will be carefully studied and analyzed.”
The successful intercept was most probably conducted by anti-drone units of the 79th Airborne Brigade based in Mykolaiv, which is currently defending the area near Pavlopil and Hnutove and is known as one of Ukraine’s best combat formations. Back in the fall of 2014, the brigade’s troops were engaged in the famous defense of the Donetsk Airport.
According to the military press service, the capture of the drone is the latest in a series of interceptions of advanced Russian equipment in the Donbas war zone, and is more evidence of Russia’s support for forces “terrorizing civilians living on the separation line.”
For instance, the Ukrainian Air Forces on Oct. 14, 2018 released a video showing a Ukrainian Mi-24 combat helicopter chasing and eventually downing another enemy drone, which was later identified as an Orlan-10, another unmanned aerial vehicles widely operated by the Russian armed forces.
Another Orlan-10 was downed by Ukrainian air defense units on Jan. 10, 2018 as it carried out a surveillance flight between the Russian-occupied city of Horlivka and the outskirts of the key front line Ukrainian city of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast.
Meanwhile, according to Ukraine’s headquarters, low-intensity hostilities all along the 400-kilometer front line continued through January 24-25, with one Ukrainian soldier being killed and more four injured in action in the previous 24 hours.
