The use of commercial grade UAVs to direct and correct relatively basic unguided artillery has been a major feature of this war.
More UAV footage of Russian forces getting absolutely destroyed by drone directed/corrected artillery.π₯πΊπ¦
They took an absolute pasting.
From the footage, it seems like the Russian soldiers were in the process of looting civilian houses. It looks like they paid the price for their greed...
And this is how they do it - no fancy laser guided shells, just a drone and good old fashioned D-20 field artillery.
A few thoughts about the Ukrainian victory in the Battle of Kyiv:
Firstly, this is a huge victory for the Ukrainians. It's a decisive defeat for Russia - they've been stopped from capturing their key strategic objective. They can't overthrow Zelensky or the Ukrainian government.
This secures Ukraine's survival as an independent nation. Many thought this outcome was impossible at the start of the war. Now it's a fact. Ukrainian morale will be hugely boosted - Russian morale will be lowered.
Secondly, Kyiv is now out of range of ground based heavy artillery. The city will be spared the destruction we've seen in Mariupol. It's still in range of cruise missiles and SRBMs but these are expensive and have far lower destructive potential than massed heavy artillery.
Overnight a pair of incredibly brave Ukrainian Mi-24 "Hind" helicopter gunship crews flew into Russian airspace and blew up a fuel depot in Belgorod.π₯πΊπ¦
CCTV footage of the airstrike. You can see the FFAR rockets being fired and impacting the fuel depot from at least two Mi-24 'Hind' helicopter gunships.
More footage of the two helicopters leaving the area after the successful airstrike.
Apparently the Russians hadn't considered the possibility of such an attack and didn't bother to deploy any air defences around this obvious target.
To be clear, this is not footage of the "Kinzhal" hypersonic missile strike - despite the Russian MOD presenting it in a way that has made many think it is.π
Russian MOD original caption:
"Destruction of a weapons depot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by high-precision missile weapons strike. We can see the exact hit of an underground hangar with weapons and ammunition."
Russian MOD press release regarding "Kinzhal" strike:
"The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region."