Styrofoam, plywood, and Ukrainian SIM cards. Ukraine's intelligence on new Russian drones

Russia has begun employing new cheap drones in its long-range attacks on Ukraine, attempting to detect Ukrainian air defense, as was reported to Reuters by Andriy Cherniak, a representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense.

For in-depth analysis and longer stories, follow us on LinkedIn

He said that two new types of drones that Russia has used in five drone attacks over the past two to three weeks are made from materials such as styrofoam and plywood.

One type has a camera and a Ukrainian mobile phone SIM card for sending images to the Russian military, he said.

"They identify where our mobile groups are positioned, where the machine guns are that can destroy them. They're trying ... to get a picture of where all our air defenses are located," Cherniak said.

He stated that the new drones likely cost only $10,000 each, despite their long range, making them much cheaper to produce than air defense missiles.

Cherniak also noted that such drones can fly at an altitude of 1 km, staying out of range of machine guns and automatic rifles.

Read also: "Internet Apocalypse": Russia's digital infrastructure "crumbling" after HUR cyber strike – source