Introduction: How I came across the Ukrainian websites
I read the Washington Post article “Seemingly stuck Russian convoy hides mysteries” and was curious about the drones mentioned here:
Excerpt: “More than likely, Russian forces have local air superiority, so it’s doubtful Ukrainian forces have good opportunity to strike,” Kofman said of Kyiv’s current posture. Given that imbalance, he added, “the Ukrainians’ best chance” of damaging the convoy at this point “is with drones.”
Ukraine has had some success striking Russia targets with Bayraktar TB2 drones, which were purchased from Turkey. Last week, Ukraine’s defense minister said in a Facebook post that additional Bayraktar drones had just arrived in the country, but it is unclear how many more drones Kyiv had bought.
As things stand now it appear highly unlikely that there will be a Russian pilot against US and NATO pilot air war over Ukraine, usually called establishing a “no-fly zone”, but that using drones is both a highly effective method to fight the Russians and one that won’t involve lethal air combat.
The most recent news is that the idea that Poland can send MiG’s to Ukraine for their pilots to use seems to have stalled.
This leaves drones as the most viable way to fight the Russians from the air.
I looked was curious about the drones so I looked up the Turkish drone in Wikipedia (here) and found that they were up-to-date about how these weapons are now being used in Ukraine to attack the Russian tank convoy.
Ukraine and 2022 Russian invasion
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bayraktar TB2 drones have been used by the Ukraine’s armed forces against Russian troops. In January prior to the invasion, the spokesperson for the air force command Lt. Col. Yuri Ignat confirmed that "Ukraine has approximately 20 Bayraktar drones, but we will not stop there".[118] On 24 February, the day of invasion, the People's Militia of the Luhansk People’s Republic claimed it shot down two TB2 drones near the city of Luhansk.[119] On 27 February, the Ukraine’s air force confirmed two strikes by TB2 on Russian convoys in the Kherson and Zhytomyr regions.[120] According to video footage released by the armed forces, TB2 drones successfully destroyed several Russian military vehicles including surface-to-air missile systems.[121] The drone also reportedly destroyed two Russian fuel trains.[122] The chief of Ukraine’s air force Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk called the UAV system "life-giving".[123] On 2 March, Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikovannounced the arrival of additional TB2 drones.[124]
What I did next:
Reading the Wikipedia entry about the drone I came across the website of the Ukraine Army because this drone photo had a link to it.
Of course most of us don’t read Ukrainian so in order to understand the articles which don’t have a link to an English language version we have to translate them. I use Google Translate (link to translate Ukrainian to English), but there are other translation websites (here).
Here’s an excerpt from the translation of the article shown in my illustration:
Russia has not lost so many aircraft over the past 30 years, so many in these 13 days in Ukraine - Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine needs the help of partners to protect our airspace. The President of Ukraine stated this in a video address to citizens.
"We have been fighting for 13 days. We destroy the occupiers wherever we can. Throughout. But there is the sky. Hundreds of Russian cruise missiles, hundreds of fighter jets of the occupiers, hundreds of helicopters. Yes, we destroy them.
Russia has not lost as much aircraft in the past 30 years as in these 13 days in Ukraine. But they still have enough cars to kill. There are still enough missiles for terror. There are still enough 500-kilogram bombs to drop on us. For ordinary people, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odessa and Kharkiv, Poltava and Zhytomyr. Dozens and dozens of Ukrainian cities, millions of peaceful Ukrainian people.
13 days when we hear only promises. 13 days, when we are told that there will be help in the sky, there will be planes, they will give them to us, "said the President of Ukraine.
The website masthead is all in Ukrainian with two exceptions, the logo in the upper left and the link to #STOPRUSSIA.
Click #STOPRUSSIA and it takes you to the current articles about the invasion.
Click the logo in the upper left corner...
and and it takes you here.
Here’s another source for direct information from Ukraine, mil.gov.ua
Here's the link to the Ukraine YouTube channel. While the videos are in Ukrainian some of the visuals are compelling.