A drone carrying a grenade infiltrated an ammunition dump in Ukraine, setting off an explosion that caused an astounding billion dollars worth of damage. The incident points to the growing use of drones in wartime, particularly off the shelf civilian products harnessed to conduct sabotage and other attacks.
Ukraine's domestic intelligence service, the SBU, believes that a drone carrying a Russian thermite hand grenade caused a series of titanic explosions at Balakliya, a military base in Eastern Ukraine. Amateur video of the incident posted on YouTube shows a raging fire spewing out of control artillery rockets, and an explosion and shockwave that sent civilians nearby reeling.
One person was killed in the attack and five were injured.
The drone is believed to have carried a ZMG-1 thermite grenade. Thermite, a combination of iron oxide (rust) and aluminum powder. The stuff burns extremely hot and easily could have gotten through wooden crates to detonate the munitions inside. The ammo dump is just 60 miles from the Russian/Ukrainian border, where fighting recently took place.
According to PM contributor David Hambling writing at Scout Warrior, it's not the first time military bases in Ukraine have been hit by drones. A similar attempt to blow up the Balakliya base took place in December 2015, when drones dropped 14 grenades. The fires were extinguished by Ukrainian servicemen, and one grenade, a ZMG-1, was recovered.
In October 2015, an attack on an ammunition depot at Svatovo destroyed 3,000 tons of explosives and damaged 1,700 nearby homes. Two other attacks on ammo dumps took place in February, and another facility was attacked in March.
Guerrilla groups, terrorists, and perhaps even governments worldwide have rapidly weaponized consumer drones, effectively turning hobbyist devices into lethal weapons capable of killing. In 2016, two French Special Forces soldiers were injured and two Kurdish fighters were killed by an exploding ISIS drone. ISIS has conducted numerous drone attacks during the Mosul campaign and terrorism experts fear weaponized drones could spread outside conflict zones.
Funny how this keeps happening to these Ukrainian bases and ammo dumps.
At this rate, we may have to spend many billions to send some fresh new American-made military gear there. Because, you know, theirs all got destroyed because they stupidly put it in such vulnerable places, all in a big heap where it's so easy to blow up.
If I was in charge of protecting $1 billion of anything, I'd set up broadcasting towers all around and constantly jam the frequencies used by commercial drones.
Doesn't it seem kinda funny how the Ukrainians are systematically destroying their rather huge stockpiles of Soviet weapons and ammo? Like they want to destroy it or something.
You recall they lost that huge underground ammo bunker too. I had the impression of $5-$10 billion in ammo got destroyed.
Oh, well, at least there will be American manufacturers ready to ship them some of the Good Stuff. Watch in wonder as Congress jumps to save Fortress Ukraine from Bad Vlad!
Doesn't it seem kinda funny how the Ukrainians are systematically destroying their rather huge stockpiles of Soviet weapons and ammo? Like they want to destroy it or something.
Or in Crimea - a big part of the army switched to Russian side and other left without any resistance.
Well, do you remember that the pro-Russian Ukrainian government (that was overthrown by the pro-Western street protests), was elected earlier by the majority of Ukrainian voters?
To suppress the resistance in Donbass. new Kiev leaders had to send right wing volunteers, as the regular army was strangely incapable to fight.
I still tend to think that Ukraine should declare military neutrality, guaranteed by treaty between CIS and NATO. And they should be allowed to join the EU peacefully.
It would be far less destructive to economies of Russia and NATO.
I think a tipping point has come in Ukraine where they do want to turn to the EU economically. Ukraine was never really a country to begin with, at least up to the fall of the Soviet Union. But I think after 25 years, they have formed more of a national identity separate from their old client state status as a heartland of the tsarist and Soviet regimes.
Let Ukraine go west but be as neutral as Switzerland.
