{"id":973,"date":"2026-07-15T05:07:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=973"},"modified":"2026-07-15T05:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:07:33","slug":"drones-are-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=973","title":{"rendered":"Drones Are Not Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"
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U<\/span>kraine\u2019s unrelenting drone offensive to cut off Crimea from mainland Russia and occupied sectors of Donbas is making world headlines as midrange Hornet and Dart drones with 100-kilo explosive payloads reduce Russian road, railway, and maritime traffic to the Russian-occupied Peninsula by over 50 percent.<\/p>\n

Read more Ignorance Is Not Bliss: The Dumbing Down of America<\/a><\/p>\n

Turning Crimea into a virtual liability for Putin and neutralizing its function as a logistic, air, and naval hub may be a dazzling accomplishment. But Russia\u2019s grinding ground offensive on the strategic Donetsk fortress belt, which has been gaining traction over recent weeks, may be potentially more decisive for the course of the war, despite its lax news attention.<\/p>\n

Chronically short of manpower and bludgeoned by Russia\u2019s ballistic missiles and conventional air superiority, President Zelenskyy has again opted for creative asymmetric strategies of targeting Russian weak points with his drone units. But this may be drawing them away from defensive operations, never much favored by Zelenskyy, to retain control of the critical urban corridor linking the main industrial cities of Donetsk, which are Vladimir Putin\u2019s prime objective.<\/p>\n

Last week, Putin held a televised briefing with his top generals in a bunker at an undisclosed location supposedly in Donetsk, where he announced the \u201ccapture\u201d of Kostiantynivka, the southernmost fortress city, which would place him at the gates of the central citadel of Donetsk, Kramatorsk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to note the positive dynamics of the actions of our troops which continue moving west\u2026 the capture of Kostiantynivka is only the first but very important stage in the destruction of formations of the Ukrainian armed forces still holding Kramatorsk, Sloviansk and Druzhkivka strongholds where the enemy has dug a deep and well-defined system of fortifications,\u201d Putin said.\u00a0(RELATED: Putin on the Rocks)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gradual infiltrations by Spetznaz teams over the past several months, supported by air strikes using FAB guided bombs launched from jet fighters, combined with flanking maneuvers along the city\u2019s outskirts by light infantry or \u201cMotorized Rifles\u201d have enveloped Kostiantynivka in a summer offensive whose strength was underestimated by many Western analysts.\u00a0(RELATED: What Ukraine\u2019s Moscow Strike Means Beyond the War)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Russians have driven Ukrainian defenders from the southern sectors and deeply penetrated the city center. What appeared as a precarious salient some weeks ago has greatly expanded into a strengthened corridor into the main neighborhoods where urban combat is ongoing, according to the latest updated battlefield maps of Washington\u2019s Institute for the Study of War and geolocated satellite images.<\/p>\n

Russian commanders further claim that their troops have taken positions in the city\u2019s northeast sector by infiltrating the area from the flanks and are beginning to move up the H-20 highway towards Druzhkovka, a virtual satellite city of Kramatorsk, sprawling 20 miles up the road. The head of Russia\u2019s 3rd Army Corps told Putin that elements of his 6th Motorized Rifle Division were already \u201cadvancing towards Druzhkovka and engaging in combat operations on its southern outskirts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy and his chief spokesmen were denying that Russia \u201ccontrolled\u201d Kostiantynivka up to a week ago, saying that Ukrainian units continued resisting Russian encroachments. Russian commanders \u201cexaggerate\u201d the reach of their advances, according to ISW. \u201cThey are trying to gain favor with Putin,\u201d British military analyst Hamish de Bretton Gordon tells the Daily Telegraph<\/em>. But Ukraine\u2019s hold over the southern anchor of the fortress line is slipping, and direct Russian infantry assaults on Kramatorsk, already targeted by increased air strikes, could begin in earnest by the fall.<\/p>\n

The supposedly impenetrable \u201ckill zones\u201d of drone-saturated battlefields impeding mass troop movements and tank maneuvers, which U.S. general (ret.) David Petraeus credits with stalling Russian advances, works both ways. Russian FPV drones and loitering munitions operated by the increasingly experienced \u201cRubicon\u201d units are similarly impeding Ukrainian reinforcements from reaching Kostiantynivka.<\/p>\n

According to a recent battlefield report by the Kyiv Independent<\/em>, Ukrainian troops trying to reach the embattled city have to move in very small units and mainly by foot to avoid detection by Russian drones, greatly reducing the level of resupply and reinforcements that can reach besieged fortifications. Video footage also indicates Ukrainian evacuations of troops and civilians as Russia conducts \u201cmopping up operations\u201d of defensive pockets, according to some reports.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s growing lack of manpower may be entering a critical stage as popular resistance to forced conscription seems to grow. Public rejection of serving in the war was recently dramatized by mass riots in Kyiv triggered when people came to the aid of a man being press ganged by a \u201crecruitment patrol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more The Courts Finally Let America Enforce Its Own Immigration Laws<\/a><\/p>\n

However, many drone fleets are turned out by Ukrainian military factories, which are themselves under increasing Russian missile attack. Zelenskyy\u2019s wonder weapons ultimately cannot hold or take ground, and Ukraine\u2019s experimentation with machine gun-mounted robots to replace ground troops remains at very early stages. (RELATED: Deminers: The Dangerous Work of Giving Ukraine Back Its Land)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ukraine\u2019s strategy hinges entirely on the ability of its increasingly lethal and accurate long-range drones and cruise missiles\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Ukraine\u2019s strategy hinges entirely on the ability of its increasingly lethal and accurate long-range drones and cruise missiles, now capable of reaching 75 percent of Russian territory, to inflict sufficient damage to raise the war\u2019s cost to unacceptable levels. Massive losses have already been inflicted on Russia\u2019s strategic oil industry, reduced almost to half its pre-war capacity by Ukrainian air strikes. Oil refining and transport facilities go up in dark clouds of smoke almost daily as fuel shortages lead to growing lines of cars outside gasoline stations in Moscow and other cities. Zelenskyy\u2019s objective to \u201cbring the war home to the Russians\u201d has been reached. Russia is now having to import oil. But whether this can generate a sufficiently strong public backlash threatening Putin\u2019s hold on power or his abandonment of battlefield objectives increasingly within his grasp is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are relying on drone strikes for an experimental offensive in Crimea to force Russia to negotiate on Ukraine\u2019s terms,\u201d a Ukrainian military analyst recently said on a Kyiv Independent<\/em> podcast. \u201cRussia seems to show no adaptation to decrease the efficiency of Ukrainian attacks but we don\u2019t have the manpower to re-take territory where we weaken Russian defenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small Russian reconnaissance teams in light-armored vehicles were spotted some 3 km from Kramatorsk this week, amid reports that major steel manufacturing plants were being dismantled and moved out of the industrial city of 150,000 people.<\/p>\n

Russian forces massing to the north around Lyman, within striking distance of Sloviansk, however, were repelled in Ukrainian counterattacks, hitting them with drone swarms and elite air assault troops.<\/p>\n

Putin has repeatedly insisted that if the remaining western portion of Donetsk, which is about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware, is not surrendered to him through negotiations, he will take it by force in what may yet turn out to be the war\u2019s longest and most grueling battle.<\/p>\n

Putin is expected to order a mass mobilization to raise the necessary number of troops to throw at Kramatorsk following parliamentary elections in September. It is a gamble that raises political costs. Forced conscription in Moscow and other main cities could generate anti-regime sentiment.\u00a0But\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the kind of gamble he appears prepared to\u00a0take as he smells blood.<\/p>\n

His military industry is producing \u201cRyvok-1\u201d variants of T-90M tanks modified to counter drones. They are being equipped with on-board radars to track and fire interceptors at incoming threats, electronic warfare systems to create domes around the tank, cutting control links between drones and their operators, and heavy steel cages, bar screens, and specialized explosive reactive armor designed to force early detonation or tangle drone propellers before they penetrate the main hull. About 1,100 of the super tanks are projected to be in service by 2027. Whether that target can be met is questionable.<\/p>\n

But a grim race is on, matching Ukraine\u2019s ability to inflict crippling pain on Russia\u2019s war machine and generate internal discontent against Putin with Russia\u2019s capacity to breach the Donetsk fortress belt and take Kramatorsk. The fall of Kostiantynivka gives Putin the incentive to keep going.<\/p>\n

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Rummaging for Cash in the Ruins of Socialism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walloping Each Other Harder and Harder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cuba Is Prepared to Be a Second Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n

Image licensed under <\/em><\/strong>Creative Commons\u00a0Attribution 4.0 International<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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