Ukraine Army hits enemy artillery unit, first time using Bayraktar combat drone
For the first time since Ukraine acquired Bayraktar TB2 reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicles, one of them engaged an enemy target in the Joint Forces Operation zone.
That’s according to a Facebook post by the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Ukrinform reports.
"Today, October 26, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Valery Zaluzhnyi, the Bayraktar reconnaissance and strike UAV was for the first time employed in the Joint Forces Operation zone," the statement said.
It is noted that from 14:25 to 15:15 local time, a battery of D-30 howitzers with the Russian terrorist forces fired on the Joint Forces’ positions in the area of Hranitne.
Two Ukrainian servicemen were wounded in that shelling, one of whom later succumbed to his wounds. With the start of the shelling, Ukraine immediately demanded through the OSCE SMM that the enemy cease fire, and a note was sent through diplomatic channels. However, the invaders offered no reaction to the effort.
"In order to force the enemy to cease fire, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Bayraktar was used. The UAV did not cross the line of contact and destroyed with a guided bomb an artillery gun with the crew from the Russian occupation forces,” the statement reads.
After the strike, the shelling of Ukrainian positions stopped.
As Ukrinform reported earlier this month, all obstacles have been removed to the production of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 strike drones in Ukraine, according to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry and Turkey's Baykar Savunma signed a memorandum of cooperation on September 29.
Photo from defence-ua.com
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