Half a day of Kyiv's pressure shows that Russia is scaling up UAV personnel – military SBS

The ongoing Russian attack on Kyiv on December 27 shows that Russia has not only amassed "Shaheds" but has also increased the number of UAV personnel. About this in the commentary LIGA.net Ivan Kyrychevskyi, a soldier of the 413th Regiment "Reid" of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and a weapons expert, told Defense Express.

Commenting on the massive attack on the capital, he said that the Russians have a clear intention to add emotion to the negotiations and create an appropriate level of psychological pressure on the population of Ukraine.

"And I would say that it's not even about persuading them to accept some abstract conditions of the Kremlin, because they are always abstract. I think it's more about leaving people in a state of disorientation so that no one can make any decisions," Kirichevsky said.

The military officer believes that we need to pay attention to something else here. According to him, the Russians not only accumulated "shaheds" for "almost half a day of pressure on Kyiv, but also managed to accumulate enough personnel to ensure that these means were used so intensively in one place."

"From Alabuga, the Shahed won't be able to walk to all 15 launch points on its own. It needs to be transported. It has to be equipped with a combat unit and filled with aviation fuel, which is a very labor-intensive process," he explained.

According to Kyrychevsky, the extent to which the Russians have organized a prolonged pressure on Kyiv with drones shows that they are increasing the number of their unmanned systems units, which, in particular, are responsible for terrorizing the civilian population of Ukraine.

"I won't say here whether this means building up the existing units or forming something new. But it is obvious that for such an attack, the Russians would need not only additional "chessmen" but also additional people to support these strikes," the expert stated.

He added that the more means of attack that need to be launched, the more people are needed to ensure such an attack.

"I'm not saying they have a severe shortage of people. But scaling up the use of drones always requires scaling up recruitment. In terms of UAV personnel, the Russians are not even relying on quality, but on quantity, which is obvious," he said.

Kirichevsky recalled that the Russians have stated in their strategic framework that they plan to increase the number of personnel working with unmanned systems to 200,000. He is convinced that the night attack confirms that they have set a course for this.

• On the night of December 27, the Russians massively attacked Kyiv and the region. It is known about the dead and several dozen wounded.
• The occupiers launched more than 500 drones of various types and 40 missiles. Air defense forces neutralized 503 enemy targets.