In recent days, Ukraine has launched a strong counteroffensive in the Kharkov region, in the northeast of the country, which in just a few hours has been a remarkable success for the troops of Volodímir Zelenski, whose government claims to have recovered more than thirty towns and some 3,000 square kilometers since the beginning of September, information that has not been verified by any international media so far.
Whether or not the figure is correct, the truth is that several sources report the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the disorderly withdrawal of the Russians. A victory for Zelensky’s men for which the best technological equipment in his army has been partly to blame, thanks to the help of the West and its commitment to devices such as drones, both combat and commercial. Russia, for its part, defends that it is a strategic withdrawal that is part of its war plans.
Russian war technology. Last week the New York Times reported on findings by Ukraine’s security services, in collaboration with private contractors, in the remains of missiles and other Russian weaponry. The weapons, the American newspaper specifies, were among the best in Putin’s arsenal, but, nevertheless, the technology they used, such as the satellite navigation system, was quite basic and somewhat outdated.
For example, the aforementioned Russian navigation system has an architecture very similar to that of open source GPS receivers, which makes it less secure and accurate than military systems developed by the West. Also, many of the components of their weapons are generic, that is, they are not specifically made for them, which makes them less effective.
Western dependency of the Russian Army. Finally, a significant number of these components are Western-made, despite the fact that the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia after the invasion of Crimea in 2014 restricted the shipment of high technology with possible military uses to that country. It is not known how Putin’s army has been able to get hold of them, but everything points to smuggling and illegal trade, areas in which it is not usual to negotiate with the latest that has come onto the market.
This, in addition, means that as the Kremlin troops lose or consume material, they have much more difficult to replenish it than the Ukrainians, so they increasingly depend on older weapons, some even from the Soviet era, according to Politico.
ukrainian technology. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, are receiving arms supplies directly from the main Western countries, with the United States in the lead, who have sent them weapons with advanced military technology that gives a certain advantage in this section to those of Zelensky, despite the greater potential Russian warfare.
However, the technological aspect that seems to be making the most difference on the Ukrainian side, beyond the age of the Russian components, is the important use of drones and other unmanned vehicles that kyiv is carrying out. Ukraine has been characterized since the beginning of the conflict by using both military and commercial drones, both for war purposes. Many of them to observe the movement of their enemies, prevent attacks or guide artillery to enemy positions, a use that Putin’s also give them.
But those of Zelensky have gone further and are also using these devices as kamikaze vehicles that, loaded with bombs, crash into rival targets causing considerable damage, destroying supply depots, slowing down the advance of Moscow’s troops or facilitating the advance of his soldiers when they go on the offensive.
Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
