BBC journalists spoke with the Kharkiv military, who talked about how high-tech drones help them in battles.
In the village of Liptsi, Ukrainian troops seem to have blunted the sudden Russian offensive.
A few weeks ago, they rapidly advanced towards Kharkiv. But with the help of reinforcements, Ukraine is slowly holding back the tide.
The threat from the north has not disappeared. Liptsi is still a target.
The loud thud of shells can be heard nearby as we speed through its ruined and deserted streets with an elite Ukrainian unit.
Two of the team point their guns out the window. They scan the sky for kamikaze drones. They became one of the most powerful weapons of this war.
This Ukrainian unit is also going to use them. They call themselves Peaky Blinders, after the iconic series.
Alexander, their leader, says that at the beginning of the war, they came to guard their streets with shotguns, dressed in civilian clothes. He says it was like a scene from a hit show.
But they are no longer just a team of volunteers. Now they are battle-hardened and trained by Western special forces. Now they are high-tech Peaky Blinders using cheap, small, mass-produced drones.
However, they retain their name and wear camouflage flat caps with the motto “Find and Destroy” embroidered on the back.
Photo: BBC
Oleksandr told how he literally fought for his home for several weeks. He cultivated the fields near their dugout – hidden in a line of trees. Before the war, strawberries were grown here. But now he’s planting bombs.
Since the offensive began, the Peaky Blinders say they have killed or wounded more than 100 Russian soldiers. They act as a small air force with dozens of drones and an arsenal of bombs – some to destroy tanks, others to target groups of infantry or individual soldiers. They either drop bombs or use kamikaze drones that fly straight to the target. They are also known as first person views or FPV drones.
Photo: BBC
The Ukrainian military is trying to find new goals, this is proof that they are having some success.
To fill the time, they use one of their larger drones to disarm the troops they’ve already killed. Armed with rapture, they eventually manage to grab an assault rifle near a dead Russian soldier. They don’t just kill, they also take weapons.
Drones have turned this war into a point. But Anton, Alexander’s older brother, knows that they are not enough to defeat the Russians. He says:
“We can contain them with drones and damage them, but unfortunately not defeat them.”
He says that long-range weapons aimed at building up Russian forces over the border “could have prevented this offensive.”
Photo: BBC
The Russians have also, like them, developed ways to jam their signals using electronic warfare.
When the Peaky Blinders eventually find a new target, their signal is jammed before they can go in for the kill. They can lose four or five drones a day.
Despite the failure, Oleksandr says that the offensive on Kharkiv gave his tired men a second lease of life. They used to fear that the world was losing interest. But he knows it’s still a danger with no end in sight.
He says he expects the conflict to last a very long time, “perhaps several years or even decades.” Neither side, he says, has the strength to deliver a knockout blow. To push the Russians back to their border, Ukraine will need “colossal” support from the West. But for now, this latest Russian offensive has been foiled.
The head of the Kharkiv military administration, Oleg Synegubov, in a conversation with journalists, believes that the initial plan was to go all the way to Kharkiv. He told the BBC that recently captured Russian soldiers said their goal was to take the city of Vovchansk in two days and reach Kharkiv within five days. However, Putin denies that taking the city was part of his plan.
Sinegubov believes that in the end it will be possible to push the Russians to the border – as it was in 2022. At the same time, he adds:
“Liberation of the territory is only half the battle. The second half is to keep them.”
Russia’s new offensive in the Kharkiv region has once again raised the question of whether Ukraine can really win this war. This undoubtedly highlighted the shortcomings of Western support and the strain on Ukraine’s own tired armed forces, which were overstretched, outgunned and outnumbered.
Photo: BBC
Currently, the evacuation of civilians north of Kharkiv continues as the Russians continue their attack.
