Russia has begun including new, cheaply-made drones in its long-range attacks on Ukraine, to try to identify air defences, film any damage and act as decoys, a Ukrainian military spy official said.
The two new types of drone, which Russia has used in five drone attacks in the last two to three weeks including an overnight strike on Thursday, are produced from materials like foam plastic and plywood, the official told Reuters.
One type carries a camera and a Ukrainian mobile phone SIM card to send images back to the Russian military.
"They identify where our mobile groups are positioned, where the machine guns are that can destroy them. They're trying... to get a picture of where all our air defences are located," said Andriy Cherniak, a military spy agency spokesperson.
The previously unreported details from Cherniak are further evidence of Russia seeking to adapt its tactics and try new technology to gain an edge during its daily missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones, which fly to their target and detonate on impact, have become a staple of Russian aerial attacks since they began being used in the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.
Ukraine, which has been appealing to the West to provide more air defences to repel increased Russian airstrikes on its power facilities since March, tries hard to conceal the locations of its air defence systems.
The new Russian drones with cameras do not carry explosives but closely resemble regular Shahed drones and fly with groups of them, Cherniak said.
The second new type of drone contains no explosive charge or only a small one and is being used as a decoy, Cherniak added. Because it is virtually indistinguishable from a regular attack drone from the ground, it still needs to be shot down, revealing where Ukraine's air defence systems are located.
He said the new drones probably cost as little as $10,000 each despite their long range, making them far cheaper to produce than air defence missiles.
Russia says its long-range aerial attacks are used to degrade Ukraine militarily. Ukraine says Russia's attacks have hit civilian buildings and caused serious damage to civilian energy facilities and loss of civilian life.
Russian troops occupy around 18% of Ukrainian territory and have been making incremental gains in the east in recent months, putting Kyiv on the back foot along a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line.
Russian drones knock out Ukrainian power facilities near Kyiv
Russia attacked Ukrainian energy facilities in two regions between the capital Kyiv and the Russian border with drones overnight, leaving tens of thousands of people without power, Ukraine's national power grid operator said on Friday.
The governor of one of the regions, Chernihiv, told the national television at least 15 people were wounded and some infrastructure and a dormitory were damaged during an attack on the town of Nizhyn, without giving more details.
More than 68,000 consumers in certain districts of Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions lost power, Ukrenergo said. In the morning, about 30,000 consumers were still without power after what were the latest of near daily Russian attacks on the power system since the spring.
The emergency service said an overnight attack on Kherson had damaged six residential buildings and caused significant fires in open areas.
Russia has attacked energy facilities across Ukraine with missiles and drones over the past few months, causing blackouts in many regions and forcing Kyiv to start large-scale electricity imports from the European Union.
