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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine is losing its drone supremacy
Credit: Social Media In an undisclosed location near the front line, Vanya, a Ukrainian soldier, traverses through a field covered in the traces of a deadly Russian weapon. It's not unexploded ordnance or landmines beneath his boots, however, but an endless stream of razor-thin fibre-optic cables, glistening in the sun while spooled out across the landscape. These are the lifelines of Russia's most effective weapon – fibre-optic guided FPV drones. Once an obscure experiment, these drones have become one of the defining weapons of the battlefield in recent months, impervious to jamming and able to strike targets far behind enemy lines with chilling precision. X/@GrandpaRoy2 What's more, while Ukraine first pioneered drone warfare, it's Russia that appears to have mastered this next phase. 'Our advantage in drones, which we have held since 2023, has been surpassed by the Russians,' a senior non-commissioned officer with Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, call sign 'Jackie', told The Telegraph. 'We did all the work of innovating drones as a weapon, but we did not scale this weapon fast enough on an industrial level for it to have a meaningful strategic effect. We were too slow.' The dominance of fibre-optic drones marks a pivot in drone warfare. In 2024, Ukrainian and Russian production of traditional, radio-controlled FPV drones surged. But these drones relied on radio frequencies, meaning they increasingly fell prey to electronic warfare (EW) jamming. In fact, by the end of last year, up to 75 per cent of drones fired by Russia and Ukraine were being knocked out by jamming, according to military expert Pavlo Narozhny. Enter the fibre-optic drone – a wired throwback to Cold War-era anti-tank missiles like the US-made TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided), but refashioned for modern aerial warfare. The drones themselves appear unremarkable – quadcopters rigged with explosive payloads – except for a large, cylindrical spool mounted underneath, feeding out a strand of fibre-optic cable as they fly. This physical tether between pilot and drone makes them impossible to knock out using jamming. The tactical implications are vast. Fibre-optic drones can fly into hangars, bunkers, dense urban terrain or tree cover with no loss of signal. Their camera feed is clearer. They don't emit detectable signals, meaning typical radio frequency detectors can't pick them up. And they don't expose the operator's location. 'They're really great when you need to fly into some kind of building, like a large shed or hangar, to have a look inside if there is something there with the ability to strike it straight away,' Oleksandr 'Skhid,' an FPV drone team commander in Ukraine's Achilles Strike Drone Regiment, told the Kyiv Independent. 'The same goes for other types of cover, and flying in forested areas.' The drones can typically travel up to 25km, comparable to the range of the most commonly used radio controlled FPVs, with a prototype developed by Ukraine's '414th Strike UAV Battalion' reaching up to 41km. The technology itself isn't new. In fact, Russia began deploying these makeshift drones after Ukraine launched its daring incursion into Kursk last August. But what makes the Russian deployment of these drones so dangerous is the recent increase in scale. Once seen as clunky and niche, they are now being mass-produced and have been deployed along key front lines. 'You can barely walk through the fields after fibre optic drones have flown through,' Pasha, a senior instructor at Kyiv's Dragon Sky UAV training centre, told the Telegraph. Russia's ruthless deployment of the drones was on full display during the recent intensive push to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk in an effort led by Russia's elite 'Rubicon' drone unit. Footage captured in March showed a Ukrainian vehicle packed with soldiers hurtling along the R200 road, which linked Ukraine to the town of Sudzha, its last remaining stronghold inside the Russian border region. Credit: Telegram/@Brigada83 It was hunted down and destroyed by a Russian fibre-optic drone, which was lying in wait on the side of the road. Within weeks, that same road was littered with the carcasses of vehicles destroyed in a similar fashion. The drones have also been responsible for the destruction of Ukrainian armoured vehicles and key weapons – often deep behind the front line in locations radio-controlled drones would struggle to reach because of jamming and radio horizon. In Chasiv Yar, for example, the Rubicon unit destroyed one of Ukraine's precious US-made Himars using a fibre-optic drone 10km behind the front line. 'They have pushed the safe zone to 10-15 km away from the front line, have made logistics and troop rotation more complicated and forced us to double down on digging deep down and disguising the locations and bunkers,' a spokesperson for the Khartia Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard said. 'They're a game changer,' agreed 'Uncle Sasha', a front-line FPV instructor and officer in Ukraine's National Police Aviation Division. 'Everyone is trying to find countermeasures to fibre-optic drones – we don't have them, and neither do the Russians.' Credit: Russian Ministry of Defence / 'Rubicon' drone unit Despite their battlefield success, fibre-optic drones are no silver bullet. They're expensive – just one fibre spool can cost $700 (£520), enough to buy two conventional drones – and their range is limited by the cable length. They are also heavier, and therefore often slower. To achieve the same speeds as a radio-controlled drone, a heavier fibre-optic drone must expend more battery power, limiting its range. As a result, most pilots flying fibre drones typically fly them at much slower speeds. They also have much lower manoeuvrability, due to the trailing cable, which must be precisely spooled to avoid tangles, and a strong wind can upend a stationary drone hunting its prey mid-mission. 'Fibre optic drones are very, very, very slow,' explained Mr Narozhy, whose Reactive Post NGO provides spare parts to the Ukrainian military. 'At the start of the flight, the weight is well-centred, but by the end, it's often off-balance.' There are signs that both sides are developing countermeasures, however rudimentary. 'In one case, a group of Ukrainian soldiers saw a Russian drone fly past them,' recalled Pasha. 'They realised it was a Russian drone so just went out and snapped the cable.' Ukraine is also experimenting with drone-catching fishing nets, wooden decoys, and even placing soldiers with shotguns near artillery systems, a solution so manpower-intensive it is near impossible to sustain. High-tech radar systems that can detect fibre-optic drones up to 20km away do exist but cost over a million euros each. 'Ukraine cannot afford to put this on every artillery station,' Mr Narozhy said. Such systems also produce emissions that are easily detected by Russian radar detectors. Credit: Telegram/@Brigada83 Ironically, Ukraine may have had the head start. Fibre-optic drones were reportedly first conceived by Ukrainian engineers but shelved early on due to the effectiveness of cheaper, more agile FPV drones, and the absence of effective Russian jamming. Now, at least on the fibre optic front, Kyiv is playing catch-up. 'While Ukrainian drone teams and innovators have achieved great success at the tactical level, we have failed to leverage our tactical advantage into strategic success,' said 'Jackie' of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. 'The window of time we held this tactical advantage has now closed.' 'It's possible we will achieve another level of technological innovation during this war,' he added. 'But it's not important that it works. It's important that we can scale it up so fast that the enemy cannot react to it.' For Russia, the Rubicon-led development of fibre-optic drones is part of the Kremlin's wider push to gain the upper hand in the battle for drone supremacy. Following the successful Kursk counter-offensive, Rubucion's drone pilots now operate in at least seven specialist detachments across eastern Ukraine, carrying out complex, decentralised missions. The Russian defence ministry has also established its own version of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces to boost the use of all types of drones by Russia's armed forces, with Andrei Belousov, the Russian defence minister, announcing the creation of a new military unit planned to be completed by July 1 this year. It is also worth noting that Ukrainian drones, both radio-controlled and fibre-optic, still retain their brutal effectiveness. With Russia currently on the offensive, Ukrainian drone pilots have an easier time striking infantry and armoured vehicles, while Ukraine's own elite drone teams regularly strike Russian logistics vehicles, air defence systems, and artillery pieces deep behind the front line. In any case, the implications, as with many new developments in the war, extend beyond Ukraine. Western militaries, reliant on jamming and electronic warfare to counter drones, would be 'completely and totally vulnerable to fibre optic FPV drones,' one Ukrainian source warned. 'All current counter-measures used by Western militaries, such as electronic warfare systems, are useless against such drones, and they have no experience operating in an environment where FPVs saturate the battlefield.' In the meantime, Ukraine is racing to find an effective countermeasure that extends beyond using wooden decoys and shooting drones down with shotguns. This is a technological arms race and Russia, even if temporarily, has the lead. 'We were laughing at them before,' said Pasha. 'But now it's not funny.' Still, hope persists. 'This is a big problem for us,' said Uncle Sasha. 'But it's a problem for the Russians too, and I think we will solve it. We will find a solution to protect us from this technology.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Ukraine is losing its drone supremacy
In an undisclosed location near the front line, Vanya, a Ukrainian soldier, traverses through a field covered in the traces of a deadly Russian weapon. It's not unexploded ordnance or landmines beneath his boots, however, but an endless stream of razor-thin fibre-optic cables, glistening in the sun while spooled out across the landscape. These are the lifelines of Russia's most effective weapon – fibre-optic guided FPV drones. Once an obscure experiment, these drones have become one of the defining weapons of the battlefield in recent months, impervious to jamming and able to strike targets far behind enemy lines with chilling precision. What's more, while Ukraine first pioneered drone warfare, it's Russia that appears to have mastered this next phase. 'Our advantage in drones, which we have held since 2023, has been surpassed by the Russians,' a senior non-commissioned officer with Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, call sign 'Jackie', told The Telegraph. 'We did all the work of innovating drones as a weapon, but we did not scale this weapon fast enough on an industrial level for it to have a meaningful strategic effect. We were too slow.' Pivot in drone warfare The dominance of fibre-optic drones marks a pivot in drone warfare. In 2024, Ukrainian and Russian production of traditional, radio-controlled FPV drones surged. But these drones relied on radio frequencies, meaning they increasingly fell prey to electronic warfare (EW) jamming. In fact, by the end of last year, up to 75 per cent of drones fired by Russia and Ukraine were being knocked out by jamming, according to military expert Pavlo Narozhny. Enter the fibre-optic drone – a wired throwback to Cold War-era anti-tank missiles like the US-made TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided), but refashioned for modern aerial warfare. The drones themselves appear unremarkable – quadcopters rigged with explosive payloads – except for a large, cylindrical spool mounted underneath, feeding out a strand of fibre-optic cable as they fly. This physical tether between pilot and drone makes them impossible to knock out using jamming. The tactical implications are vast. Fibre-optic drones can fly into hangars, bunkers, dense urban terrain or tree cover with no loss of signal. Their camera feed is clearer. They don't emit detectable signals, meaning typical radio frequency detectors can't pick them up. And they don't expose the operator's location. 'They're really great when you need to fly into some kind of building, like a large shed or hangar, to have a look inside if there is something there with the ability to strike it straight away,' Oleksandr 'Skhid,' an FPV drone team commander in Ukraine's Achilles Strike Drone Regiment, told the Kyiv Independent. 'The same goes for other types of cover, and flying in forested areas.' Technology isn't new The drones can typically travel up to 25km, comparable to the range of the most commonly used radio controlled FPVs, with a prototype developed by Ukraine's '414th Strike UAV Battalion' reaching up to 41km. The technology itself isn't new. In fact, Russia began deploying these makeshift drones after Ukraine launched its daring incursion into Kursk last August. But what makes the Russian deployment of these drones so dangerous is the recent increase in scale. Once seen as clunky and niche, they are now being mass-produced and have been deployed along key front lines. 'You can barely walk through the fields after fibre optic drones have flown through,' Pasha, a senior instructor at Kyiv's Dragon Sky UAV training centre, told the Telegraph. Russia's ruthless deployment of the drones was on full display during the recent intensive push to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk in an effort led by Russia's elite 'Rubicon' drone unit. Footage captured in March showed a Ukrainian vehicle packed with soldiers hurtling along the R200 road, which linked Ukraine to the town of Sudzha, its last remaining stronghold inside the Russian border region. It was hunted down and destroyed by a Russian fibre-optic drone, which was lying in wait on the side of the road. Within weeks, that same road was littered with the carcasses of vehicles destroyed in a similar fashion. The drones have also been responsible for the destruction of Ukrainian armoured vehicles and key weapons – often deep behind the front line in locations radio-controlled drones would struggle to reach because of jamming and radio horizon. In Chasiv Yar, for example, the Rubicon unit destroyed one of Ukraine's precious US-made Himars using a fibre-optic drone 10km behind the front line. 'They have pushed the safe zone to 10-15 km away from the front line, have made logistics and troop rotation more complicated and forced us to double down on digging deep down and disguising the locations and bunkers,' a spokesperson for the Khartia Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard said. 'They're a game changer,' agreed 'Uncle Sasha', a front-line FPV instructor and officer in Ukraine's National Police Aviation Division. 'Everyone is trying to find countermeasures to fibre-optic drones – we don't have them, and neither do the Russians.' No silver bullet Despite their battlefield success, fibre-optic drones are no silver bullet. They're expensive – just one fibre spool can cost $700 (£520), enough to buy two conventional drones – and their range is limited by the cable length. They are also heavier, and therefore often slower. To achieve the same speeds as a radio controlled drone, a heavier fibre-optic drone must expend more battery power, limiting its range. As a result, most pilots flying fibre drones typically fly them at much slower speeds. They also have much lower manoeuvrability, due to the trailing cable, which must be precisely spooled to avoid tangles, and a strong wind can upend a stationary drone hunting its prey mid-mission. 'Fibre optic drones are very, very, very slow,' explained Mr Narozhy, whose Reactive Post NGO provides spare parts to the Ukrainian military. 'At the start of the flight, the weight is well centred, but by the end, it's often off-balance.' There are signs that both sides are developing countermeasures, however rudimentary. 'In one case, a group of Ukrainian soldiers saw a Russian drone fly past them,' recalled Pasha. 'They realised it was a Russian drone so just went out and snapped the cable.' Ukraine is also experimenting with drone-catching fishing nets, wooden decoys, and even placing soldiers with shotguns near artillery systems, a solution so manpower-intensive it is near impossible to sustain. High-tech radar systems that can detect fibre-optic drones up to 20km away do exist but cost over a million euros each. 'Ukraine cannot afford to put this on every artillery station,' Mr Narozhy said. Such systems also produce emissions that are easily detected by Russian radar detectors. Ironically, Ukraine may have had the head start. Fibre-optic drones were reportedly first conceived by Ukrainian engineers but shelved early on due to the effectiveness of cheaper, more agile FPV drones, and the absence of effective Russian jamming. Now, at least on the fibre optic front, Kyiv is playing catch-up. 'While Ukrainian drone teams and innovators have achieved great success at the tactical level, we have failed to leverage our tactical advantage into strategic success,' said 'Jackie' of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. 'The window of time we held this tactical advantage has now closed.' 'It's possible we will achieve another level of technological innovation during this war,' he added. 'But it's not important that it works. It's important that we can scale it up so fast that the enemy cannot react to it.' For Russia, the Rubicon-led development of fibre-optic drones is part of the Kremlin's wider push to gain the upper hand in the battle for drone supremacy. Following the successful Kursk counter-offensive, Rubucion's drone pilots now operate in at least seven specialist detachments across eastern Ukraine, carrying out complex, decentralised missions. The Russian defence ministry has also established its own version of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces to boost the use of all types of drones by Russia's armed forces, with Andrei Belousov, the Russian defence minister, announcing the creation of a new military unit planned to be completed by July 1 this year. It is also worth noting that Ukrainian drones, both radio-controlled and fibre optic, still retain their brutal effectiveness. With Russia currently on the offensive, Ukrainian drone pilots have an easier time striking infantry and armoured vehicles, while Ukraine's own elite drone teams regularly strike Russian logistics vehicles, air defence systems, and artillery pieces deep behind the front line. Warning for the West In any case, the implications – as with many new developments in the war – extend beyond Ukraine. Western militaries, reliant on jamming and electronic warfare to counter drones, would be 'completely and totally vulnerable to fibre optic FPV drones,' one Ukrainian source warned. 'All current counter-measures used by Western militaries such as electronic warfare systems are useless against such drones, and they have no experience operating in an environment where FPVs saturate the battlefield.' In the meantime, Ukraine is racing to find an effective countermeasure that extends beyond using wooden decoys and shooting drones down with shotguns. This is a technological arms race and Russia, even if temporarily, has the lead. 'We were laughing at them before,' said Pasha. 'But now it's not funny.' Still, hope persists. 'This is a big problem for us,' said Uncle Sasha. 'But it's a problem for the Russians too; and I think we will solve it. We will find a solution to protect us from this technology.'
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Yahoo
A night with the medics of Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade on Kharkiv Oblast front
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Editor's Note: Due to the security protocols of the brigade featured in this story, Ukrainian soldiers and military medics mentioned are identified by their callsigns only. KHARKIV OBLAST – As is usually the case at stabilization points across Ukraine in the fourth year of Russia's full-scale war, peak hour for the arrival of the wounded comes at sunset. Three members of one of the heavy bomber drone teams have been evacuated, two of whom are carrying nasty burns after their dugout was spotted and set on fire by a Russian drone-dropped incendiary munition. In Ukraine's military medical system, these are all considered light wounds. Still, dressing these bad burns is painful enough to justify putting them under, if briefly. Military medics of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade tend to wounded soldiers at a stabilization point near the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, on April 23, 2025. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent) This stabilization point belongs to Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which, along with other attached units, has been serving for around a year on the front line in eastern Kharkiv Oblast, holding territory that was first liberated from Russian occupation in autumn 2022. While less intense and largely more stable than other hotspots of the front line in Donetsk Oblast, this area saw a gradual uptick in Russian attacks over autumn and winter, with Moscow's forces looking to take back the territory east of the Oskil River. While the others are having their wounds dressed, the soldier who managed to escape with the lightest burns — callsign "Rebro" — must grapple with a painful truth. There was a fourth member of the team, callsign "Chornyi," or "Black." Losing consciousness and falling to the ground inside the dugout, and wearing body armor on top of his already heavy frame, Chornyi could not be carried out of the inferno. "My brother-in-arms, the one I was trying to drag out, he fell right before the entrance," said Rebro. "I couldn't carry him." After making it out, Chornyi's team members made a final attempt to go in and save him. "After we scattered across the treeline, I understood that one of us was left behind; he must have lost consciousness," said Rebro. "We tried to go back and get him out, but everything was burning already." "One was left behind... my mate..." Rebro trails off, breaking into tears as a nurse attempts to console him. A wounded soldier of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade at a stabilization point near the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, on April 23, 2025. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent) Since forming in 2022, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade has become not only one of the Ukrainian military's largest formations but also one of its most well-known, thanks to a public media presence and recruiting campaigns unprecedented for a single brigade. As part of reforms to the Ukrainian army's command structure, the 3rd Assault was one of the few brigades selected to take the responsibility of leading one of the newly formed army corps. One of the unit's biggest sources of pride is its highly professional medical service, bringing cutting-edge equipment and a broad range of specialists to stabilization points like this close to the front line. Military doctor, callsign "Zelenyi," of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade at a stabilization point near the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, on April 23, 2025. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent) Getting the best care possible, as soon as possible, is crucial — both for saving lives and for giving patients the best chance of a full recovery. This is especially true when the swift evacuation of wounded, particularly from infantry positions on the zero line, has grown practically impossible in many parts of the front line. The high saturation of enemy drones in the air means that even moving around on foot, let alone on a vehicle, makes one a target for a high-precision drone strike within a few minutes. As a result, soldiers, especially infantrymen, must often wait for days at front-line positions for the right conditions to arise and make evacuation possible. "The wounds are mostly from drones now," said one of the brigade's surgeons on the shift who goes by the callsign "Zelenyi" (Green). "It could be a light wound, but when (Russian) drones don't let us get (the injured) out, the wounds get infections, we see abscesses and the like develop." Often, antibiotics and painkillers can be delivered by drones to try and help relieve the situation at a distance, but it's only a temporary solution. In the event of a wound leading to a critical bleed and the application of a tourniquet, waiting several days before evacuation usually means that the limb cannot be saved. The result: loss of blood circulation, gangrene, and many more amputee veterans on Ukrainian streets for decades after the end of the fighting. Military medics of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade tend to wounded soldiers at a stabilization point near the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, on April 23, 2025. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent) Not long after the group is taken out for further treatment, a pair of two more wounded soldiers is brought in. It's one of the brigade's artillery teams, this time with light shrapnel wounds. Once again, they were the target of a Russian drone strike, and once again, one of them didn't make it out alive. Both of the soldiers are conscious and on their feet, but one has suffered a shrapnel wound right under his right eye. It's not immediately clear whether the red, swollen eye has sustained direct damage, but after careful cleaning of the wound, the doctors are relieved to find that it hasn't. A wounded soldier of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade at a stabilization point near the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, on April 23, 2025. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent) Military medics of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade tend to wounded soldiers at a stabilization point near the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, on April 23, 2025. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent) The fact that those brought in to the stabilization point were from Ukrainian artillery and drone teams was no coincidence: their working positions, while also getting more dangerous with every passing month, are at least slightly further back from the zero line, making timely evacuation possible. Meanwhile, for wounded infantry, already living and fighting in the most difficult conditions of any soldier, the wait times are only getting longer and longer, with no light at the end of the tunnel. Military therapist "Luna" of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade at a stabilization point near the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, on April 23, 2025. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent) For military therapist "Luna," finding the strength to continue is not a matter she has a choice in. "There is no one of us in this war — whether it's for three years, two, or even just one — who hasn't been deeply changed by it," she said, after finishing the dressing on the last artilleryman's shrapnel-speckled leg. "Can we continue? It's not the right question, we simply must." You can watch the video version of this story on the Kyiv Independent's YouTube channel: Note from the author: Hi, this is Francis Farrell, the author of this piece. There are some moments in our line of work that make you just stop in your tracks, confronted with the scale and intensity of the horror before you. Seeing a grown man break down in tears as the adrenaline wore off because of his teammate that they couldn't drag out of the burning dugout, yes, that was one of them. Ukrainians are tired, hurt, and sick to their stomach of this war, everyone here wants peace, but Russia's goal remains this country's annihilation, and sometimes it feels like people in the West forget about this. We could just stay in Kyiv and report from there, but we go to the war regularly, to bring this clarity back to you, before the war itself comes knocking. Please consider supporting our reporting. We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Russia Today
05-05-2025
- Russia Today
Russian glide bombs pound Kiev's troops (VIDEOS)
Multiple new videos emerged online over the weekend, highlighting the continuing active use of free-fall aerial bombs fitted with winged upgrade kits. Russian aircraft have been deploying glide bombs to destroy Ukrainian forces' positions, as well as military installation in the near rear beyond the frontline. The Russian military has been actively using FAB bombs fitted with Universal Correction and Guidance Modules (UMPK) winged upgrade kits since early 2023. The winged module turns old free-fall bombs into guided high-precision munition, as well as drastically expands their range, allowing war planes to deploy the bombs without getting in the reach of anti-aircraft defenses. The UMPKs were initially used with smaller high-explosive bombs such as FAB-250 or FAB-500, making it to larger munitions, such as FAB-1500 and FAB-3000 later into the conflict. The upgrade kits have been also used with including thermobaric ODAB-1500 and cluster RBK-500 bombs. In one of the fresh videos, a purported massive FAB-3000 bomb is seen leveling a temporary deployment point of Ukrainian troops in the town of Kupyansk in Kharkov Region. The bomb is one of the most powerful in the series, weighing more than three tons. More footage, also from Kupyansk, purports to show a winged FAB-3000 bomb striking a building used as a command post by the Ukrainian military. Another drone video, filmed in the village of Borovaya, Kharkov Region, apparently shows a smaller-caliber winged bomb in action, likely a FAB-1500. The strike reportedly destroyed a temporary deployment point of the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a neo-Nazi unit formed from the remnants of the notorious Azov regiment.
04-05-2025
- Sport
Injured in Russia's war, Ukrainian vets join together as sportsmen in Canada
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Oleksii Tiunin, a Ukrainian soldier who lost his leg in Russia's war, has become known in his adopted Canadian home as an undefeated sportsman. He was the captain of this year's Ukrainian national team at the Invictus Games, which included the largest-ever Ukrainian delegation in February in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. "If someone had told me during my rehabilitation about such an event as these games, I would not have believed it was possible at first," said Tiunin, 37. The veteran of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which participates it the most brutal battles with the Russian invaders, was badly injured by the enemy gunfire near Andriivka, Donetsk region, in August 2023. Because of a delayed evacuation, he said, he lost his leg. He works today as a TV presenter. But here, in British Columbia, this veteran from Kharkiv region is already known as a man of a strong spirit. Earlier this year, a team of 35 injured Ukrainian soldiers won 30 medals, and finished on the fourth place in total medal count behind the U.S.'s 53, the United Kingdom's 38 and Australia's 36. The 12 gold, 11 silver and seven bronze medals marked the country's second-best result at the Invictus Games. "We came here to have fun and show the strength of Ukrainian people, get some medals, meet new people, chat with them, enjoy sightseeing and relax," Tiunin told ABC News after the closing ceremony. Due to his observations, the attitude towards the Ukrainian team was special: "Each of us got much more out of this trip than we expected -- we had only good and positive emotions here." Tiunin describes the attitude to Ukrainian team as a combination of attention and respect, that has obviously close connection to the war in Ukraine that started over three years ago with the Russian full-scale invasion. "I think people understand that a brutal war is currently going on in our country, and if we take into account other participants of the games, none of them was involved in such a war as we, Ukrainians are," said the veteran. According to Tiunin, the Ukrainian team was warmly supported not only by the representatives of the diaspora, but also by Canadians on the streets of Vancouver. In late 2024, the Economist estimated that nearly 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers were injured and were unable to return to the front line. One of the injured is Serhii Hordiievych, 38, the golden medalist in alpine skiing this year in Whistler. A veteran of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Volyn region in western Ukraine, he used to work as a physical education teacher at a local college and then as a repairman in France -- before joining the military. In May 2022, Hordiievych was injured during his battalion counteroffensive near the village of Vesele in the Kharkiv region. "I fell on my back and felt that my legs are getting stiff – I only managed to look around to check if there was an enemy somewhere around and then called my comrades for help," he recalls. According to Hordiievych's memories, from the very first seconds he was full of faith that he would survive: "I just closed my eyes and fainted with a smile on my face, in pure and sincere confidence that everything is going to be fine." He suffered a spinal cord injury, and despite the long rehabilitation process, Hordiievych is still unable to walk – quite a disaster for a young man with great passion to sport. "Before joining the army, I used to play soccer for three or even five times a week – always ready and accepting any proposal to compete," said the veteran. But the Invictus Games 2025 in Whistler were his first-ever real competition or big games ever. Hordiievych said he was inspired by his friend, and Invictus Games 2022 Ukrainian team member, Serhii Kalytiuk. Despite a similar injury, Kalytiuk continues to excel in sports. Now he practices archery, table tennis and even works as a coach of the national para-tennis team. "At the very beginning I had no idea how I should live from now on," said Hordiievych. "But my comrade visited me in the hospital and helped me a lot – although his injury was much worse in comparison to mine, he provided a personal example, proving that it is possible to overcome it." Kalytiuk showed Hordiievych how to drive a car – at that time, something unthinkable for people with traumas like theirs: "That is how I restarted myself once again to renew my will for life," Hordiievych said. And that is probably why his first-ever trip to the American continent brought him and Ukraine a gold medal on alpine skiing, although he was not even proposed to participate in these games. It was Hordiievych's wife, Tetiana, who literally forced him to join the national team. According to him, she said: "Let me have you registered, we will go to the national tryouts and check if it fits you or not and then you will decide it yourself if it is worth it." So, she registered Hordiievych and wrote him a motivational letter, which he read in front of the camera, and sent it out without any firm belief he would be added to the team's roster. in success. But Hordiievych was invited for the tryouts in Kyiv: "It was some special vibe there, I felt as if I was among my people, as if I belonged here, the atmosphere was very relaxing and I liked it," he says. And the results were announced on Hordiievych's birthday. "On that day I received lots of calls with greetings – I was nonstop thanking everybody wondering, how they knew it was my birthday, as I have deleted my birthday information from my social media profiles everywhere," he remembered. At some point, when Hordiievych heard the next "My congratulations!" from the archery coach, who he didn't know well, he asked her: "Ms. Lesia, how do you know that it is my birthday?" And the answer was: "I know nothing about your birthday – you're on the national team!" "That was how I became a member of the team," Hordiievych says with a smile on his face. Right before the games, during six days of practice in Bukovel, a ski resort in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, Hordiievych was facing a tremendous challenge – to learn how to ski. "For the first two days I was not able to make a simple turn or even balance myself properly, but thanks to my coaches and other joint efforts, we managed to help me overcome myself and we did it," he said. New sport discipline helped Hordiievych to feel the same positive emotions he used to feel when he was skiing before the war, and that was probably the turning point that made the champion in Whistler. According to Hordiievych, it was an unforgettable moment, when he arrived at the finish line and his coach, leaning forward over the net, shouted: 'Serhii, you are the winner!' "At first, I thought that the coach was just cheering me up and supporting, because at the third turn I slowed down a bit, lost some speed and was almost sure that others will have much better results," says Hordiievych. But his coach then repeated: "You beat them all by three seconds." And it was such an incredible feeling for Hordiievych once he understood that he is the champion. Besides this moment of glory and fame, Hordiievych said, he will always remember Canadian Rockies: "It was unreal panoramic view when my coaches and the instructor took me to the peak over 2000 meters high here in BC." Another memorable moment for Hordiievych was his meeting with Prince Harry. As he recalls, "On the last day of the games he was sitting down near me with a child of my comrade on his knees, and that is how I get this memorable image." Now, after the Games, Hordiievych said he plans to continue alpine skiing, and he also started to play table tennis. Although his spinal cord injury is a complicated trauma and needs a very sophisticated treatment and long adaptation, he still hopes for complete recovery. "I am confident that one day I will walk again, because I must dance with my daughter – first at her graduation party and then at her wedding," he said. It looks as if the whole Invictus Games Ukrainian national team consists of people with strong faith and unbreakable will. "A person with a disability because of war. A person with unlimited capabilities! Learning to live with a prosthesis!" – that is how Tiunin describes himself on his Instagram profile. And that is how he is trying to help other injured veterans to deal with their traumas. Tiunin clearly understands that not everyone will be able to accept new life immediately and be ready to compete with other veterans at the next Invictus Games. As a captain of the National team and the veteran, he said, there should be not even a single chance for surrender. "You don't have to fall into despair, you just have to survive this difficult stage of treatment, rehabilitation, not give up, believe in yourself, train and strive for greater heights," he said.
