Russia Using the Sea to Disguise Shahed Drone Attacks Against Ukraine

Russia has been deploying Shahed kamikaze drones from the sea in recent attacks, where waves coupled with the adverse weather conditions, help mask the engine sound as the drones approached their targets.

The drones fly low over the water surface then ascend drastically over the coast and head directly for residential areas, said Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Operation Command, on national television.

She said Moscow employed similar tactics when Shaheds were first used, but there has been a resurgence of similar tactics since it continued to experiment with ways to exploit Ukrainian air defenses.

“This tactic isn’t new, they applied it from the very beginning when they tried to muffle Shahed’s characteristic sound that is heard from afar. And it's no secret that many mobile air defense groups often focus on sound in the first place before using other tools,” said Humeniuk.

Humeniuk said while the air defense “operated effectively,” the military is trying to understand whether Russia’s new tactics using adverse weather conditions to shield drone approaches would pose a threat to Ukraine.

“We are still studying this question, but there were definitely complications in the operation of the air defense system,” she said.

“The Shahed drones are detected in particular by the sound. Perhaps they wanted to hide this treacherous sound behind a thunderstorm, lightning and thunder.”

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She added that Odesa's port infrastructure continued to be targeted by Russia.

In recent days, Russia has been experimenting with new strike packages using different combinations of missiles and drones – or sometimes just missiles – in an attempt to penetrate Ukrainian air defenses.