Strana 29
There was also one relatively small-
scale operation that nevertheless has major
historical significance. On the Kinburn Spit at
the mouth of the Dnipro, which is controlled
by Russian forces, a Ukrainian naval drone,
for the first time ever, deployed a ground
drone equipped with a machine gun onto the
shore. The ground drone then attacked Russian
positions from the rear. We are witnessing
a robotic revolution in real time!
On Tuesday, July 14, the Ukrainian Navy
sank the Izumrud, a patrol vessel belonging
to Russia’s FSB Border Guard Service, near
Novorossiysk using a Sargan-3000 naval
drone. Several crew members were killed. For
Ukraine, this was a major act of retribution.
In 2018, during a period of official peace, the
Izumrud had participated in the attack on three
Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait.
Toward the end of the period under
review, the Russian army attempted a major
mechanized assault in the area of the village
of Dobropillia. In an era when drones dominate
the skies, such operations are highly unusual.
The attack lasted almost four hours, and
the Russians suffered heavy losses without
achieving anything. At least seven tanks, two
rocket launchers that were providing cover
for the attack, and 47 other vehicles were
destroyed. More than 120 Russian soldiers
were killed.
Missile in Poland
At the end of the period under review, Russia
also escalated its provocations against NATO
countries. In Romania, three Russian drones
were shot down over the course of three days,
from July 24 to July 26. Italian Eurofighter
Typhoon fighters, which are participating
in the NATO mission to protect Romanian
airspace, were involved, as were F-16 fighters
belonging to Romania and NATO. Moscow
denied that the downed drones were Russian,
so the Romanians “presented” the Russian
ambassador with the wreckage of a Shahed/
Geran drone.
A serious incident occurred in Poland on
Thursday, July 30. A Russian Kh-101 cruise
missile came down there. It was part of
a large-scale Russian attack on western
Ukraine. According to Polish officials, at
around 3 a.m., as many as 20 Russian missiles
were heading toward Poland over Ukrainian
territory. Ukrainian defenders managed to
shoot down most of them. The Ukrainian pilot
also attempted to pursue and shoot down the
last remaining missile. However, he had to turn
around approximately 20 seconds before the
Polish border. He did not have permission to
enter Polish airspace, and there was a risk that
he could be shot down by Polish air defenses.
Those defenses continued tracking the missile
and scrambled an F-16 against it.
The missile crashed without being hit by
the fighter into a field near the village of
Tarnawa-Kolonia in the Lublin Voivodeship, 95
kilometers from the border, leaving a large
crater upon impact.
Experts believe that the missile was
programmed to do this. Before impact,
it performed a typical maneuver used when
attacking a designated target: it stopped
following the terrain at low altitude, climbed
higher, and then descended almost vertically
onto the target. If this had been a malfunction
and the missile had crashed, for example,
because it ran out of fuel, it would not have
performed this final attack maneuver. Russia
was therefore apparently testing NATO’s
response once again.
F-16 vs. Su-35
During the period under review, Russia
suffered relatively heavy losses of aviation
equipment. We will not examine them
chronologically, because one incident stands
out from the others and therefore deserves to
be discussed first.
An oil refinery in Syzran, Russia, on fire.
Attacks on Russian military logistics continued
as well.
The FSB patrol boat Izumrud sunk.
AIR WAR IN UKRAINE
The aftermath of the attack on a weapons exhibition in Kyiv.
INFO Eduard
29
September 2026