Improvisation and innovation have become watchwords for Russian and Ukrainian militaries as they seek to outdo each other on land, sea and air.
Several recent developments demonstrate the constant evolution of tactics and weaponry. Russia’s new jet-propelled bomb, Ukraine’s use of light aircraft as long-range “suicide bombs,” and a new generation of maritime drones.
Both countries are rapidly leveraging AI, robotics, and unmanned systems.
But some innovations are strikingly low-tech.
As night fell at an airfield in Ukraine earlier this month, a small group assembled a pilotless light plane for a mission 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) deep into Russia. The target was Dzerzhinsk, a Russian industrial city about 330 miles east of Moscow.
It had a very basic bomb attached to its chassis.
Hours after the single-engine plane took off into the night sky, a major fire was reported at an explosives factory in Dzerzhinsk that produces artillery shells for the Russian military.
The program was created by an aviation enthusiast with the call sign “Goronic” and converts a one-seater plane into a primitive but effective long-range missile. Instead of a cockpit, there will be an additional fuel tank and battery to power the navigation and communication systems, according to a report in Ukrainian media outlet Babel seen by CNN.
Goronych and his group are now integrated into the 14th Regiment of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, and Goronych spoke to CNN about their activities. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it was involved in an attack on a machine factory that manufactures detonators and landmines in the Russian city of Saransk, about 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The Goronich plan is one of dozens of adaptations made by both sides as the conflict drags on, particularly using light aircraft and drones.
Ukrainian military chief of staff Oleksandr Shirushkyi said in September that light aircraft equipped with machine guns had proven effective at intercepting Russian drones, and the military would consider purchasing more.
Russia recently began deploying small planes equipped with machine guns to occupied territory to shoot down Ukrainian drones heading for targets inside Russia.
Their mistake was profiling them on TV.
Ukrainian security services identified the aircraft’s base and announced on Tuesday that they had “neutralized two small aircraft that the occupiers had stationed at the airfield and were using to shoot down Ukrainian long-range drones.”
Not all innovations are fundamental.
According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service (DI), in recent weeks Russia has begun fielding new jet-powered guided bombs that leverage its vast inventory of older “free-fall” bombs.
“The range and combat radius of such a bomb will be approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles),” DI deputy chief Vadim Skybitsky said in a statement.
Russia had already converted Soviet-era bombs into glide bombs with a range of about 80 kilometers (50 miles), allowing aircraft to fire well past Ukraine’s air defenses. In just one day last week, nearly 300 similar bombs were launched into Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s General Staff, the daily average is just over 100.
The new long-range version, called UMPB-5, has already been used in attacks against Kharkov in northeastern Ukraine in recent days. A Russian aviation blogger posted on Monday that the weapon was “already being used against Ukrainians… Production will now begin and things will heat up even more.”
The Ukrainians pioneered the development of maritime drones, which were particularly effective against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. This week, Security Services (SBU) announced its latest generation.
One of the vehicles was used in an attack on a bridge connecting Russia and occupied Crimea in June, the SBU said. The updated model can travel more than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) and carry up to 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds) of explosives. A multiple rocket launcher system can also be installed.
At the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainian army was much more agile than the Russian army in terms of adapting tactics and equipment. But over time, defense analyst Dara Mashkot said, “Russian military units have implanted protective armor on their vehicles, learned new camouflage methods, adopted small-unit assault tactics and many other adaptations.”
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has also established an elite drone force called Rubicon that is “experimenting with different types of tactics and informing how other drone units are being directed,” Massikot wrote in Foreign Affairs.
Despite all its innovations and surge in domestic production of drones and missiles, Ukraine still needs a continuous pipeline of weapons from its allies. Russia’s barrage of missiles and drones, often hundreds a night, has once again highlighted deficiencies in air defense capabilities.
President Zelenskiy renewed his call for Western defense after a deadly attack that killed two people in the capital Kiev between Friday and Saturday. Ukraine is “paying special attention to the Patriot system so that we can protect our cities from this horror,” he said.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service told CNN in September that Russia was working towards producing more than 6,000 Shahid-type drones each month.
That’s just one reason Ukraine wants long-range missiles – to bring war to targets such as drone factories deep in Russia. However, US President Donald Trump has said that offering Tomahawk cruise missiles is off the table at this time.
Kiev is now looking to Europe to strengthen its capabilities. “Everyone currently supporting Ukraine with air defense systems and missiles is protecting lives,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.
“And everyone who supports Ukraine with long-range capabilities will bring the end of the war closer,” he added.
Zelenskiy said he hoped to reach “a good and in many ways a completely new agreement on our defense capabilities” in talks with European allies this week.
But because most weapons production pipelines are measured over years rather than months, rapid improvisation plays a key role on the battlefield.
