Ukraine is betting on drones to repel Russian aggression while Moscow seeks to strengthen its arsenals with the help of North Korea, which has considerably increased rail transport to Russia.
“The path of a drone from development to purchase is now as short as possible. Drone production has multiplied a hundred times in one year. More than 200 Ukrainian companies began developing drones,” the Ukrainian Prime Minister reported on Telegram. , Denis Shmigal.
According to the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ukrainian State is working “to strengthen its own defense and recovery capabilities.”
“The approaches to the development of the Ukrainian military industry changed radically and a new company was created on the basis of Ukroboronprom (the main Ukrainian military company) in accordance with modern standards of business management,” he noted.
Ukraine has considerably increased the use of drones in recent months, both on the battlefield and in the Russian rear and even against several Russian regions bordering Ukraine or Moscow itself.
In the last 24 hours alone, Russian anti-aircraft defense shot down 25 Ukrainian drones in the annexed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which put the number of drones shot down in the previous day at 38.
Russia is not far behind in this endeavor, by increasing production of Shahed drones in Russian territory with cooperation from Iran, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat told television today.
“Based on intelligence data, from experts, there is an increase in production,” he stated, although he considered it unlikely that Russia could manufacture these drones “independently”, without help from Iran.
Ignat added that Ukraine currently knows the countries that manufacture the components necessary for the manufacture of these drones and the probable supply routes to Iran, and then to Russia.
According to the head of the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 500 drones in September, a record number.
In addition, during the past month, Russia reported several attacks with Russian-made Lantset suicide drones, widely used on the front line, against targets 70 kilometers from the front, which implies a considerable renewal of these projectiles.
Furthermore, Moscow, which is unable to reverse the situation on the front and is barely containing the Ukrainian counteroffensive, could have turned to North Korea for help with military supplies and weapons.
According to satellite images, there is an “unprecedented” increase in freight rail traffic on the border between both countries, following the recent meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
A study published by the specialized website Beyond Parallel reveals the presence of 73 freight cars at the Tumangang station in Rason, a North Korean city bordering Russia.
This is a much larger volume than that observed at this station over the last five years, even taking into account pre-pandemic levels, since the global health crisis led the regime to shield its borders, according to the study on the specialized website , attached to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
“Given that Kim and Putin discussed certain military exchanges and cooperation at their recent summit, the dramatic increase in rail traffic possibly indicates the supply of weapons and ammunition to Russia,” said the conclusions of the study, which failed to identify the content of the wagons.
Although Putin and Kim remained silent on the matter, the main media outlets and experts estimated that the North Korean leader’s visit to Russia was aimed at agreeing to the supply of weapons to Russia, of which Pyongyang has considerable reserves, in exchange for military technologies of advanced.
