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Russia - Ukraine “peace negotiations”

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www.theguardian.com

‘They cannot be jammed’: fibre optic drones pose new threat in Ukraine

Experimental kamikaze FPV drones have been developed that can penetrate spaces previously thought safe
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
On the battlefields of Ukraine, new sights emerge. Thread-like filaments of wire, extended across open fields. Netting rigged up between trees along key supply roads. Both are responses to a hard-to-detect weapon able to sneak into spaces previously thought safe, hi tech and low tech all at once.

At a secret workshop in Ukraine’s north-east, where about 20 people assemble hundreds of FPV (first person view) drones, there is a new design. Under the frame of the familiar quadcopter is a cylinder, the size of a forearm. Coiled up inside is fibre optic cable, 10km (6 miles) or even 20km long, to create a wired kamikaze drone.


Capt Yuriy Fedorenko, the commander of a specialist drone unit, the Achilles regiment, says fibre optic drones were an experimental response to battlefield jamming and rapidly took off late last year. With no radio connection, they cannot be jammed, are difficult to detect and able to fly in ways conventional FPV drones cannot.

“If pilots are experienced, they can fly these drones very low and between the trees in a forest or tree line. If you are flying with a regular drone, the trees block the signal unless you have a re-transmitter close,” he observes. Where tree lined supply roads were thought safer, fibre optic drones have been able to get through.

A video from a Russian military Telegram channel from last month demonstrates their ominous capability. A fibre optic drone, the nose of the yellow cylinder housing the coil clearly visible, flies with precision a few centimetres from the ground, to strike a Ukrainian howitzer concealed in a barn, a location clearly previously considered safe.

Soldiers have quickly come to fear them. Oleksii, a combat medic, working in Pokrovsk, the busiest front in Ukraine’s east, says daytime evacuations of the wounded, already very difficult, have become impossible. “It’s just not happening now there are fibre optic drones. They cannot be jammed and for now they are the main concern for the guys on the frontline,” he said.

But as Fedorenko acknowledges, it is Russia that, at least for now, “is well ahead of us” – largely because Moscow has had greater access to fibre optic cabling, with Ukraine scrambling to catch up. Fibre optic drones were heavily used in Russia’s counterattack in Kursk and experts believe they were an element in Moscow’s success in largely rolling up Ukraine’s salient in March.

Experts estimate that drones of all types now contribute to about 70% to 80% of military casualties on both sides. As for fibre optic craft, Samuel Bendett, a drone expert with the Center for Naval Analyses, said they appear to be proving useful at the start of an assault, in an environment where cheap remotely piloted vehicles are increasingly taking the place of artillery.
 
altmin said:
www.theguardian.com

‘They cannot be jammed’: fibre optic drones pose new threat in Ukraine

Experimental kamikaze FPV drones have been developed that can penetrate spaces previously thought safe
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
On the battlefields of Ukraine, new sights emerge. Thread-like filaments of wire, extended across open fields. Netting rigged up between trees along key supply roads. Both are responses to a hard-to-detect weapon able to sneak into spaces previously thought safe, hi tech and low tech all at once.

At a secret workshop in Ukraine’s north-east, where about 20 people assemble hundreds of FPV (first person view) drones, there is a new design. Under the frame of the familiar quadcopter is a cylinder, the size of a forearm. Coiled up inside is fibre optic cable, 10km (6 miles) or even 20km long, to create a wired kamikaze drone.


Capt Yuriy Fedorenko, the commander of a specialist drone unit, the Achilles regiment, says fibre optic drones were an experimental response to battlefield jamming and rapidly took off late last year. With no radio connection, they cannot be jammed, are difficult to detect and able to fly in ways conventional FPV drones cannot.

“If pilots are experienced, they can fly these drones very low and between the trees in a forest or tree line. If you are flying with a regular drone, the trees block the signal unless you have a re-transmitter close,” he observes. Where tree lined supply roads were thought safer, fibre optic drones have been able to get through.

A video from a Russian military Telegram channel from last month demonstrates their ominous capability. A fibre optic drone, the nose of the yellow cylinder housing the coil clearly visible, flies with precision a few centimetres from the ground, to strike a Ukrainian howitzer concealed in a barn, a location clearly previously considered safe.

Soldiers have quickly come to fear them. Oleksii, a combat medic, working in Pokrovsk, the busiest front in Ukraine’s east, says daytime evacuations of the wounded, already very difficult, have become impossible. “It’s just not happening now there are fibre optic drones. They cannot be jammed and for now they are the main concern for the guys on the frontline,” he said.

But as Fedorenko acknowledges, it is Russia that, at least for now, “is well ahead of us” – largely because Moscow has had greater access to fibre optic cabling, with Ukraine scrambling to catch up. Fibre optic drones were heavily used in Russia’s counterattack in Kursk and experts believe they were an element in Moscow’s success in largely rolling up Ukraine’s salient in March.

Experts estimate that drones of all types now contribute to about 70% to 80% of military casualties on both sides. As for fibre optic craft, Samuel Bendett, a drone expert with the Center for Naval Analyses, said they appear to be proving useful at the start of an assault, in an environment where cheap remotely piloted vehicles are increasingly taking the place of artillery.
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I was off by a couple days. It took till Wednesday.

Someone should tell Trump, that if he wants to play cards with Zelensky and Putin, that he's got to ante up something. Otherwise, mind his own business.
 

Trump Blames Zelensky as Ukraine Peace Talks Stumble​

After Ukraine’s president criticizes Trump’s proposed peace plan, U.S. officials again threaten to walk away from negotiations​



“…A meeting Wednesday in London that was billed as a make-or-break moment for talks fizzled after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoffabruptly canceled plans to attend. That followed Zelensky’s pushback against a U.S. proposal for a peace deal—that Washington legally recognize Russian sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

… Ukrainian officials said they are worried that Trump, who has said he doesn’t like Zelensky, might blame Kyiv for a breakdown in talks and refuse to provide further military aid. They have reminded their U.S. counterparts that Ukraine agreed to stop fighting for 30 days while Russia hadn’t.

… The realization that all sides remain far apart on key issues stands in contrast to Trump’s claim that he could broker a pact within 24 hours. He has vented to aides that the negotiations were harder to conclude than he hoped, U.S. officials said, directing most of his anger at Zelensky for not readily agreeing to the most recent U.S. proposal

… Most analysts contend that the current terms are a far better deal for Russia than Ukraine. “Without any real pressure, the Russians are not budging and playing for time, and they are getting what they want: a U.S. that is so frustrated with the negotiations that they seem to just want Ukraine to say yes to accepting Russia’s maximalist demands,” said Alina Polyakova, president and chief executive of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank. “If the U.S. gives up and moves on, the Russians would consider this a win.”

… French officials are working on a plan to create a coalition force that could be placed inside Ukraine after a cease-fire is in place to further deter Russia from reinvading. However, they will only put boots on the ground if the U.S. pledges to offer logistical and air support if Russia were to restart the war. So far, the U.S. hasn’t offered such help. Trump has argued that a minerals deal would put U.S. investment inside Ukraine and act as a de facto security guarantee. “
 
Zelenskyy should call the bluff. Either Trump is pressured by Congress (lol) to maintain support or Europe circles the wagons against Putin and they bunker down. Either is better than knuckling under to Vlad.
 
Geisterfahrer said:
Zelenskyy should call the bluff. Either Trump is pressured by Congress (lol) to maintain support or Europe circles the wagons against Putin and they bunker down. Either is better than knuckling under to Vlad.
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When the arbitrator is in the tank for one side which demands everything and offers almost nothing in exchange, it doesn’t leave much choice.
 
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