Putin Ally Issues Stark Ukraine 'Offensive' Warning

Ukraine's military is using drones to lay mines along the front line ahead of an offensive, according to a Russian politician with close links to Vladimir Putin.

The comments were made on the Telegram social media channel by Dmitry Rogozin, the former director general of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, who now serves as a senator in Ukraine's Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia region.

He said Kyiv's use of domestically produced unmanned aerial vehicles is likely to be the prelude to a Ukrainian attack.

"Ukrainian Baba Yagas are now used by the enemy at night only for remote mining of all our frontline roads," wrote Rogozin on Tuesday. "This is usually done before an offensive."

Rogozin has expressed his concerns about these drones before, posting a series of images in April of what he said were the devices and describing them as an "extremely dangerous" weapon that can conduct reconnaissance and drop munitions. Last week, he said the Russian military had captured one of the drones and would study its construction.

Also known as a "vampire bomber drone," the Baba Yaga six-rotor drone is equipped with an infrared camera, can carry a rocket warhead of up to 33 pounds and travel at up to 40 miles per hour.

Rogozin provided no further proof of Ukraine's intentions for an offensive about which Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian defense ministry for comment.

However, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky did say in April Kyiv had a plan for a new offensive, pending further military assistance from Washington and since then, a $61 billion has been passed by American lawmakers.

Ukraine is awaiting the full delivery of U.S. weapons with the hope that they can make a difference on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the Biden administration gave the go ahead for Kyiv to use American-supplied arms to strike at certain legitimate targets on Russian territory, following Washington's previous concerns about escalation.

Randall Stone, politics professor at the University of Rochester (NY) told Newsweek that dropping the limitation on strikes within Russia is a smaller escalation than others that have been announced, such as allowing the delivery of F-16 fighter planes.

"Putin has shown that he is reluctant to escalate or widen the war, at least as long as he thinks he is winning," Stone said. "Russia is currently making gains on the battlefield, and there is a very real possibility that the Western coalition to support Ukraine will crumble if Donald Trump is elected in November, so Putin believes that time is on his side."

It was also reported on Tuesday that Italy may give Ukraine long-range Storm Shadow missiles, as well as another SAMP/T air defense system, in Rome's latest aid package for Kyiv, according to the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

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