Ukrainian authorities ask the population not to try to shoot down drones and accuse Iran

The Ukrainian authorities have asked the population not to try to shoot down Iranian suicide drones on their own while accusing the Asian country of complicity with Russian aggression and committing war crimes.

Six Iranian drones “Shahed-136″ They were shot down at ten o’clock on Monday morning by the Ukrainian air defense, according to the Army, which also assured that about 85% of these devices were intercepted throughout the day.

The multi-target attacks in Ukraine have sparked debate among Ukrainians on how best to counter the threat.

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Several widely shared posts on social media, including one from an adviser to Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko, suggested that all Ukrainians with guns should try to shoot down the drones if they see them.

The minister himself, Denys Monastyrskyi, however, contradicted that advice and said that the probability of disabling a drone is very low and there is a risk to the shooter and the people around him.

Discussion of the matter has brought some sense of relief among Ukrainians, with some media commentators saying the Russians were probably hoping that the population would be scared or flee rather than discuss how best to shoot them down.

The attacks, however, have claimed victims, the fifth of whom was rescued today from the rubble of an apartment building destroyed in a drone strike in kyiv on Monday.

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Viktor Kevliuk, a military analyst at the Center for Defense Strategies, told EFE that “reacting to air alerts and using shelters” remains the most important thing civilians can do to protect themselves from drones.

With multiple air alerts during the day and night, however, many choose to stay in their homes, following the rule of “two walls”.

A Ukrainian serviceman watches the sky during a drone strike in Kyiv on October 17, 2022, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP) (SERGEI SUPINSKY /)

This rule indicates that at least two walls must separate a person from the outside and the second one serves to stop the shrapnel and fragments that reach the first in case a projectile or a drone hits the building.

In practice, this means that some residents of kyiv prefer to sleep in the corridors or stand in them when they see the air alert on their mobile phones.

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Yuriy Butusov, a Ukrainian journalist specializing in military issues at “Censor.net”, suggests that apart from terrorizing the civilian population and destroying Ukrainian infrastructure, drone strikes are aimed at detecting and destroying the country’s air defense systems. .

“The battle for control of airspace is a key prerequisite for the strategic offensive operation of Russian forces,” that Russia may be planning to seize the strategic initiative, Butusov wrote on his Facebook page.

He indicated that Russia attacks civilian targets to try to force Ukraine to move its anti-aircraft defense systems from the front, where they are key to preventing Russian troops from using their aircraft to prevent the Ukrainian offensive.

He added that the continued use of drones in small groups over the whole of Ukraine is also aimed at making the air defense more stationary and thus more vulnerable to Russian attacks.

The group “National Resistance” within the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Army revealed on Monday that he was able to detect the presence of about twenty Iranian instructors in the southern region of Kherson.

The group claimed that they train the Russians on how to use the kamikaze drones and direct the launch against civilian targets.

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According to the Ukrainian resistance movement in the area, Iranian instructors are also present in occupied Crimea, operating at the Chauda military center, the Kirovsky air base and near Cape Tarankhut.

While Iran has denied supplying drones to Russia, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “handing over weapons to enter a war of aggression in Ukraine and kill Ukrainian citizens makes Iran an accomplice in Russia’s crime of aggression, war crimes and terrorist acts against Ukraine.”

Source: Elcomercio