Ukraine says its air force struck a drone complex in the Russian region of Kursk, killing up to 20 drone operators.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shared an image on Telegram on Monday of a large plume of smoke and debris rising from an industrial site, saying it was “used by the enemy to launch reconnaissance, strike, and FPV drones.”
It said the drone hub was near Tetkino, a village close to the border with Ukraine and roughly 40 miles west of Sudhza.
Business Insider could not independently verify the claim, but was able to geolocate the image to the outskirts of Tetkino.
The general staff said the attack took place on Saturday, before President Vladimir Putin proposed a 30-hour truce with Ukraine. It did not give details of how the attack was carried out.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine will continue to destroy elements of enemies military infrastructure until a just peace will be achieved,” it said.
Drones have been a major part of the fighting in Ukraine, with both sides deploying them to surveil and attack. There are so many drones in the skies over Ukraine that one drone operator told BI this month that soldiers jam everything when they can’t tell friendly and enemy drones apart.
Russia retook the Kursk town of Sudzha in March, reducing to a sliver Ukraine’s grip on the region that Kyiv’s forces initially attacked last August, in a cross-border offensive that caught Russian forces off guard.
Ukrainian soldiers, talking to the BBC, reported their retreat as being like a “horror movie” and described a near-constant barrage of drone attacks on departing columns.
As of Monday, Ukraine still claimed to hold territory up to five miles into Russia, according to analysis by the Washington DC-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War.
Much of Russia’s success in retaking Kursk has been attributed to advanced drone techniques, including the use of fiber-optic drones that are immune to jamming, and the aerial targeting of Ukrainian supply lines.
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