Thread by @sambendett

1/ QUICK THREAD: How does Ukrainian military use small quadcopters to constantly keep pressure on the Russian forces? This pro-Kremlin Telegram post offered a few details - main points below:

2/ "Sitting in one village, we experienced first hand Ukraine's advanced tactics - it's called "isolating the war zone." The adversary constantly conducted reconnaissance using commercial UAVs - sometimes up to 6 "birds" hung over the village at a given time."

3/ "During the day they used ordinary quadcopters, and at night the ones with thermal imaging cameras. In a short time they managed to locate the defense nodes and personnel movement patterns. When the recon was completed, the Ukrainians shot at several trails and intersections."

4/ "Then they began to suppress any movement. It looked like this: our infantry unit reached the targeted area and immediately came under mortar fire - sometimes Ukrainians also included copters that dropped grenades in such attacks."

5/ "After several such cases, our movement between shelters was minimized. Sometimes water could not be delivered to the fighters for several days. Over time, armored vehicles stopped entering the village and there were problems with the evacuation of the wounded and the dead."

6/ " When leaving the village, we felt for ourselves the brunt of the Ukrainian military. For an hour and a half we were monitored by a quadcopter with a thermal camera and they hit us with a mortar. This feeling is not pleasant. I analyzed the situation for a long time..."

7/ "...and realized that the main damaging factor in this tactic is fear. Movement is life. Especially in the war. As soon as you are deprived of movement, you experience difficulties with transportation and the evacuation of the wounded, the countdown timer immediately starts."

8/ "It is important here not even to kill the enemy, but to scare him so that he is afraid to move. Therefore, sometimes even one person is often fired at - the fighter then gets the idea that he was driven into a trap and the brain offers options on how to escape."

9/ "Morale then drops by an order of magnitude - this leads to soldiers abandoning their positions. But this tactic still has a weak point - a moving target is still hard to hit. But if a Bayraktar-type strike UAV is flying over the battlefield..."

10/ "...which can easily destroy an armored target moving at a speed of 100 km/h, this concept takes on a finished form. In a couple of days, walkie-talkies' batteries and the water will run out. And even the most hardened fighters will abandon their positions."

11/ "Now this tactic is being tested by specialists in small sectors of the front. It proves its effectiveness and over time, with the help of NATO, the Ukrainians will try to close entire kilometers of the front. And we need to prepare for this now."

12/ This post brings together earlier observations and comments about using quadcopters not just for ISR/combat, but also psyops. In 2022, there were posts about both sides using small UAVs to spread fear and stress among ground forces.

13/ Another important takeaway from this thread is that Russian military will no doubt try to copy Ukrainian tactics. Although Russia currently lacks enough Bayraktar-type drones to really maintain pressure tactics described above. On the other hand...

14/... there is an increased activity by Russia's Lancet-type loitering drones, which can be adopted to such "warzone isolation" campaigns. Thats why there is so much activity now among Russian drone manufacturers, as the war approaches a one-year mark.