Ukraine plans massive winter drone campaign to ‘devastate’ bogged-down Russian invaders

Exclusive: The second winter of the conflict is almost here and Ukraine’s forces are marching into more grinding warfare. But faced with freezing temperatures, Kyiv and its expert drone pilots still hope to bring home a lot to celebrate, a senior general tells Arpan Rai

Ukrainian servicemen of Ukrainian Air Defence unit, 241st separate brigade of the Territorial Defence Forces take part in a training in the Kyiv region (AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine is preparing to launch a major winter drone offensive against Russia when harsh conditions hamper ground attacks, a senior general has said.

Crimea and border areas within Russia will face new aerial bombardment, with Kyiv setting its sights on Vladimir Putin’s military bases and infrastructure, Brigadier General Serhiy Baranov, the chief of the military unit overseeing drone operations, told The Independent.

He said Kyiv wants to build on “significant successes” in the past few weeks of the invasion, which has seen some of Moscow’s critical military assets and naval sites targeted by Ukraine’s one-way drones (OWA).