DPR army soldier: We were forbidden to shoot at enemy drones

The conflict in Karabakh has already been dubbed the “drone war.” For the first time, weapons that Azerbaijan received thanks to Turkey were used so actively. Ankara has tested combat drones in Syria, where the Turks support gangs of Islamist mercenaries.

Drones are also used in the conflict in Donbass. Recently, an advertising video of a Ukrainian Armed Forces exercise appeared on the Internet, which featured UAVs very similar to those used by the Azerbaijanis. A DPR army soldier, a senior sergeant, a defense participant on the southern sector of the front, spoke in an interview with PolitNavigator about the threat of the appearance of Turkish Bayraktars, as well as restrictions within the framework of the Minsk agreements, which put the defenders of the republic in a difficult situation.

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– The DPR does not have such drones to shoot. We only have small reconnaissance copters. He took off, photographed, filmed, lowered, looked at this information, calculated the coordinates, and put it on the map. All. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also have mostly intelligence officers. They also release and film.

– How do you distinguish your own from strangers?

- We are being warned. They say that from this time until this time our “bird” will work. All. Nobody looks at the sky. After work they report that the “bird” has worked, we look at the sky. As soon as we saw it, we reported, “I see a drone,” such and such a height, allow me to work. It happens that you don’t get it. Then you report the altitude - one thousand meters, seven hundred meters. In this case, they are told to take camouflage measures and keep a low profile.

– It has been reported more than once that the Ukrainian Armed Forces use drones to drop a mine or grenade. Is this their modernization or special copters, but simpler than in Karabakh?

– No, it’s not like that in Karabakh. Shots are being fired from a drone in Karabakh. There are healthy drones there and they fly at high altitudes. That is, those who launched it remained in their positions.

They launch it, see the enemy’s position, say, a crowd of people, select centers designed for the radius of destruction of this charge, the “golden mean”, shoot at this mark - that’s it. The weapon is wonderful. The guidance comes through the monitor, and the drone, when it hovers over the target, launches a missile strike. The drone is a carrier of small missiles.

– What kind of small missiles are they?

– I don’t know what they are called. But they approximately replace the 120th or 150th mine. A missile from a drone flew into the target, and fragments were scattered. Some were lucky, some were shell-shocked, some died. On average, a drone has two to three charges. Or even four, like on the American ones. And there are also American drones that fire machine guns. That is, it can do it like a regular plane. He has great speed, and they themselves are huge. Machine gun - 999 rounds per minute. Caliber – 7-62. In American - 7-56 in my opinion. This caliber is enough to penetrate lightly armored vehicles. Not to mention the body armor and the person.

VUShniki are simply dropped - that is, a cocked VOG or an eightieth mine is hung on a small copter, launched, brought to the target and dropped for good luck. The camera on the copter shines vertically downwards, they choose the middle of the view, where the mine will fly. It flies up to such an extent that it catches this middle, makes a reset and flies away. In this case, the height should be small, up to one hundred meters. This copter is very visible. It can be shot down, but we are not allowed to shoot them down.

- They don’t give it at all?

– In theory, if I saw a drone, I should shoot. But this is possible in some more dangerous positions - industrial zone, airport, Peski, Zhabunki and so on, maybe they allow shooting at drones there. We had that short moment when they told us - you saw a drone - you make a report - ours, not ours, and immediately shoot. Now, at best, there will only be a few fractions of a second left to avoid coming under fire. A request is required.

There are drones that fire artillery at our positions. They fly at low altitude. One hundred, maybe two hundred meters. Maybe three hundred, there are others - they have a more powerful camera. That is, if it freezes, it means that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are preparing to fire. Artillery is currently being aimed at it, which means that they will now start shooting at us, and they will hit us.

The drone needs to be put down urgently. But since it is forbidden to shoot in our country, and if you really want to, then you need to make a request - is it possible to shoot at a drone until this issue reaches senior figures, and if you’re lucky, it returns “good”, then, at best, the drone will the moment has simply passed, in the worst case, we are already being shot.

As it happened at the butter shop in Staromikhailovka. The drone was noticed late; according to its information, self-propelled guns were used. Thirty-six 150-caliber shots.

– Has Ukraine already used Turkish attack drones against the LDPR?

– If Ukraine had such drones, we would be poor. The Ukrainians will see a cluster or position that needs to be destroyed, he will fly out and throw only two bombs. And there the damage is normal. Especially if the observer saw that there was something to bomb. I saw the same tank, or beha, or a bunch of people. Bang, and that's it. Anyone who has this is covered in chocolate. If both they and we have it, then this is mutual slaughter.

– Do our troops have something similar? 

– We don’t have those. Maybe he is, but we don't know about it. They don't give them to us. They say volunteers can get it. We are only in the reconnaissance process. And there are definitely no such sophisticated ones. Even if there are, they are not used because they are afraid that they will be knocked down, and they are very expensive, and there are few of them. And there are many military men. In six years, I have never seen anything like this here. Only small reconnaissance copters.