01 Mar: The Biggest Drone and Cyber-Attack Russians Have Seen - Reporting from Ukraine

[TexasTowelie]

Day 371: March 01

Today the Russians are experiencing the second wave of the biggest drone attack combined with a cyber-attack that they have seen. Ukrainians are reportedly attacking objects from St. Petersburg to Krasnodar, which is a 2 thousand-kilometer front line in the air.

The first target of the drone attack became Russian objects in Belgorod, most likely the oil refinery plant. Russians claimed that all drones were successfully neutralized by means of Electronic Warfare systems. Russian sources reported that they successfully hijacked drones’ geolocation which caused the drones to crush on the residential area in Belgorod. It looks like the implementation of such measures was expected, which is why the Ukrainians reportedly used a very sophisticated tactic. Firstly, they used at least 4 drones, launching them from different directions to increase the chance that they spot an unprotected area. Secondly, they programmed them to fly at a very low altitude to avoid being detected. Thirdly, as revealed later, these drones were manually assembled from different parts, which means that they likely used different frequencies in order to complicate hijacking if the drones get detected. Lastly, Ukrainians have also reportedly accompanied the drone attack with a cyberattack on the Russian regional missile detection system.

The second target became the oil refinery plant in Tuapse. The tactic was the same: they launched at least 3 drones from different directions, the drones were different, and the attack was also accompanied by a cyberattack on the Russian regional missile detection system. One drone never reached the target and crushed dozens of kilometers away from the target. Two drones managed to reach the oil refinery but missed the oil tanks and hit the infrastructure nearby.

The third target became the gas-compressing station near Moscow. Russian sources reported that there was only 1 drone of a unique model that was not used in other strikes.

The Russians have also closed the sky near St. Petersburg. After Russian detection systems were set off, Russians reportedly used interceptor jets to eliminate the threat. The action took place far from the city, so there was no footage, and the local authorities just said that they conducted some training. The fact that Ukrainian Forces are not promoting any attacks and Russians are trying to hide everything that was not spotted by the public means that the drone attack had a much greater scale.

Today, Ukrainians reportedly launched a second wave of drones, mostly targeting Crimea but also Belgorod. In Belgorod, Ukrainians reportedly launched at least 4 drones. 3 of them successfully hit the communication tower.

In Crimea, Ukrainians reportedly launched at least 15 drones from different locations and mostly targeted Russian airfields. The drones had different trajectories, so each of them landed in different places. Those that headed through the center were shot down, confirming that Russians are still concentrating their air defense in this region. Other drones reached Saky and the main transportation route to Kherson.

As you can see, the scale of the attack is massive. The opinions regarding these attacks differ. Some analysts are saying that Ukrainians are just testing Russian air and electronic defense systems and are creating an elaborate map for building more sophisticated trajectories. After they finish, these analysts are predicting a much larger scale attack, which would cause a lot of destruction of the airfields as well as oil refineries and factories producing military equipment. The second camp of analysts is saying that the goal of these attacks is to disperse Russian air defense that has been greatly concentrated on the fronts. By dispersing Russian air defense, Ukrainians would be weakening certain fronts and slowly setting conditions for a counteroffensive operation. Ukrainians are effectively presenting Russians with a dilemma – either they keep their air defense on the front and allow the Ukrainian drones to continuously hit Russian objects and cause enormous social discontent and panic, or they pull their air defense away from the front to keep their public less distressed and increase the chance that the Ukrainian counteroffensive will be successful.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Time for Russians to feel the terror.

I hope they get to experience the the same hell Putin has visited on Urrainians. Maybe then they will wake up and get rid of this monster.

[PortTack]

2. No doubt this does force the orcs to pull troops and armaments away from the front lines, even if

The drones did not hit their intended targets. Ukrainians continue to try new and effective ways to fight.

Not sure where russian tanks are made, but it would be great if they could target them. They have one main facility that can only produce 20 tanks a month, which does not keep up with the demand.

Slava Ukraine!!

[TexasTowelie]

3. I believe that the tank manufacturing plant is in eastern Russia

and far outside the range of enemy drone attacks. I made note because I figured that it would take one or two weeks to ship the tanks cross country via rail.

[PortTack]

4. Thx...hopefully Ukrainian forces will take them out b4 they get to the front lines