Russia’s Defense Ministry has published footage showing units of a separate Guards Airborne formation from Buryatia, Russia on the hunt for Ukrainian armored vehicles on the approaches to the frontline settlement of Chasov Yar in Donetsk region.
The footage shows a high-altitude drone’s observation of a Ukrainian armored vehicle standing at a crossroads in a local dirt road, with a strike drone dispatched to the area to target the vehicle. Additional footage shows a second drone being sent, colliding with the piece of armor, equipped with a cope cage, and exploding.
“During aerial reconnaissance…paratroopers discovered the movement of armored vehicles, which were destroyed by UAV crews,” the MoD said in a statement accompanying the video. “The professional and decisive actions of UAV crews from Ulan-Ude disrupted the delivery of materiel and ammunition to the front for Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters and the evacuation of the wounded,” the ministry added.
Chasov Yar is situated about 10 km west of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) – the Donetsk People’s Republic city Russian forces freed last year after months of bloody block-by-block and house-to-house fighting. The former, which now has few residents after most civilians fled the conflict, is situated about 20 km southeast of the strategic Donetsk region city of Kramotorsk, which remains in Ukraine’s hands, and about 50 km north of the city of Donetsk.