Balitsky: electronic warfare in the Zaporozhye region turned out to be very effective against drones
MOSCOW, Aug 10 - RIA Novosti. Electronic warfare in the Zaporozhye region turned out to be very effective against drones that Ukrainian troops used for a counteroffensive, acting head of the region Yevgeny Balitsky told RIA Novosti in an interview.
"We were waiting for a "counteroffensive" at the beginning of June. So, we were very afraid of drones. We were promised a thousandth armada of drones that will go and sweep away everything in their path. And here one of the factors of air defense - electronic warfare, electronic warfare - turned out to be so effective. I personally saw deployed, falling drones that went in groups, went in battle formations of 12 pieces and that turned around, turned upside down and fell," Balitsky said.
The acting governor added that if it were not for the effective operation of electronic warfare, drones could cause a lot of damage.
"We often go to the front line, mountains lie on some supports. A mountain, say, in full growth. It's all collected by drones," he explained.
Balitsky added that the downed drones are then disassembled in parts.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive in the South Donetsk, Artemivsk and, first of all, Zaporozhye directions began on June 4. Kiev threw into battle brigades trained by NATO and armed with Western equipment, including the widely advertised Leopard tanks – subsequently, shots of cars smoking on the battlefield caused a resonance in the West.
As President Vladimir Putin stated on July 21, there are no results for the Ukrainian troops, "at least so far," and Western curators are "clearly disappointed" with the course of the "counteroffensive." Kiev, according to him, is not helped by "colossal pumped resources, nor the supply of weapons, tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, missiles, nor the sending of thousands of mercenaries and advisers."
On August 4, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that since the beginning of the "counteroffensive", in June-July, the Ukrainian troops have lost more than 43 thousand people and more than 4.9 thousand weapons. Among the destroyed Ukrainian equipment are 26 aircraft, nine helicopters, 1,831 armored vehicles, including 25 German Leopard tanks, seven French AMX wheeled tanks and 21 American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
Western media especially note the effectiveness of the minefields of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Against this background, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed the opinion that the APU offensive would go on "for a much longer number of months," and the States began to supply the APU with cluster munitions. Although, according to experts interviewed by RIA Novosti, they are not able to radically change the situation.
