Russians Bemoan 'Superior' Ukrainian Drone, EW Capabilities: ISW

Russia's ongoing offensive operations all along the front line in Ukraine have forced Kyiv onto the back foot in several key areas, but Moscow's commanders are reportedly struggling with Ukraine's deadly edge in the drone and electronic warfare capabilities.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted in its Tuesday evening update that "select Russian military commentators continue to complain about superior Ukrainian drone and electronic warfare (EW) capabilities on the battlefield, continuing to highlight the rapid and constant tactical and technological innovation cycles that are shaping the battlespace in Ukraine."

One Russian milblogger—a former instructor of a "Storm-Z" penal unit posting on a channel named "Philologist in ambush"—wrote on Telegram that drone use has been the "leading factor" in Ukraine's repelling of Russian assault operations "for many months."

The milblogger lamented Ukraine's "radical advantage in the number of not only the drones themselves, but also the number of operators," as well as the more advanced "organizational drone structures" of Kyiv's forces versus their Russian enemies.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

"The number of drones and the number of operators together allow the enemy to carry out effective tactical moves: operate a carousel of bomber drones to ensure continuous fire destruction; issue drones to assault groups in order to deploy them closer to our positions; identify the operating frequencies of our electronic warfare equipment through a tactical poke, without the use of electronic warfare equipment," the Philologist post read.

"The balance of losses of military equipment is most definitely in favor of the enemy, and quite significantly," the milblogger added. "A very significant share of these losses of ours is frankly unjustified and excessive due to the lack of proper comprehensive protection from enemy drones."

Ukraine's large bomber multicopters—known as the Baba Yagas—are causing particular issues for Moscow's troops, in the Philologist's telling. The platforms can be used to bomb positions and to carry FPV drones, and "are proving to be an extremely effective means of ensuring high-precision fire destruction," the channel wrote.

Several of the Philologist's key concerns were raised in another post on the pro-war Russian Vault 8 channel. Ukraine's drone dominance "sucks," the channel wrote, referring to recent Russian experiences on the Avdiivka front in the eastern Donetsk region.

Ukrainian assault groups, the post continued, have three to four times more FPV drones than their Russian adversaries, while Kyiv's mechanized units have six to 10 times more FPV drones than comparable Russian formations.

"The result is dozens of knocked out and destroyed tanks and infantry fighting vehicles/armored personnel carriers/MTLBs near Avdiivka, the failure of the original plan to break through the front and create a large cauldron," Vault 8 wrote.

ISW wrote in its Tuesday update that the prominent use of drones will continue to feed the constant technological race along the front line. "As Ukrainian forces adapt and better integrate new technologies into their force, Russian forces will likely feel pressured to do the same in order to retain technological and tactical parity on the battlefield," the think tank said.

"This offense-defense and capability scaling race is central to the development of combat means in a contemporary war."

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