With the Russian plan to take Kiev frozen and Vladimir Putin's plans in focus, now focused on the "liberation" of eastern Ukraine - especially Donbass - it is a wonder what happened to the famous Russian convoy, 64 kilometres long, which appeared to be advancing towards the Ukrainian capital.
A new scenario for the fate of the convoy is presented on its official website by the British newspaper "The Guardian", attributing the cancellation of the Russian planes to a select group of 30 Ukrainians.
According to the article, this is a special group of military drone pilots, powered by motorbikes and thanks to targeted night raids from the air, "forced" the Russian convoy to withdraw.
This particular group, which appears to have "eliminated" the Russian 64-kilometer convoy, was made up of drone operators who were members of an aerial target reconnaissance unit (Aerorozvidka). This unit was founded eight years ago by computer experts and amateur, hobbyist drone operators.
According to the British publication, this group is funded by donations and by the personal contacts of its members in terms of the resources needed to find the necessary equipment, such as thermal cameras.
The commander of the unit, Lieutenant Jaroslav Khonchar, described the tactics used to repel the convoy. Acting exclusively during the night, members of the unit drove hidden in the woods and approached the convoy without being seen. Their equipment included night vision goggles, sniper rifles, remotely activated mines and drones equipped with thermal cameras capable of dropping 1.5 kg bombs.
At first, the unit took out the first three vehicles in the convoy, leaving the others stuck in place, unable to move for the next two days. The following night they continued their attacks, destroying a large number of vehicles. However, the same elite unit managed to destroy the supply lines of the Russian forces, thus undermining their ability to move towards the Ukrainian capital. "The No. 1 force of the Russian army was stuck with no heat, no oil, no bombs and no fuel. And all this happened thanks to 30 people," the lieutenant commented."
The same unit claims to have also managed to repel a Russian air attack on the Khostomel airport northwest of Kiev on the first day of the war, as their drones spotted and bombed the positions of 200 Russian paratroopers attempting to take over the airport. Thus, the Russian army also lost the possibility of being able to use the airport to transport its forces close to the capital.
The above reports, however, have not been able to be verified by independent sources. At an earlier time, officials from the US Pentagon have reported that this particular convoy was stopped "due to the Ukrainian attacks". British intelligence agencies, on the other hand, have reported since March 12 that the Russian convoy was partially disbanded north of Kiev.
The people behind the Ukrainian "feat"
The unit was founded in 2014 by young Ukrainian scientists and volunteers who used their technical capabilities to resist the Russians in both the Crimean and Donbass events. Its founder was killed in 2015 in Donbass.
Initially, the group used commercial drones for surveillance and reconnaissance, however they later designed their own. This created the Delta system, a network that operates on the front line and feeds real-time data to military commanders so they know the enemy's movements. At the same time, it also uses Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system so that Ukrainian artillery elements can receive the coordinates on the map of Russian troops to accurately hit their target.
The unit was disbanded in 2019 by Ukraine's then Defense Minister, only to return to action last October precisely because of the threat of a Russian invasion.
"We are like a swarm of bees. One bee is nothing, but if there are many of them, they can face a larger force. We are like bees, but we work at night."
Source: Proto Thema
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