Flimsy Cardboard Drones A Sign Of Ukraine's Desperation

Apparently only one drone got through and hit a residential building.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainians claim theyed tralian“cardboard” drones in the attack on Pskov near the Estonian border.
There isntroversy on how the drones reached the air base there which is more than 800 km (500 miles) from Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine is nowying they were launched from inside sia.
However, the attack involved at least 10 drones, suggesting the launch point may have been from Estonia.
The sians have not formed a publicncion about the drone's flight path.

The waxed foamboard
drone has minimal radar signature.

The Ukrainians claim this is the drone that hit Pskov. But the Sypaq drone (officially Sypaqrvo Precision Payload Delivery System) has a range of only 75 miles, which means if this is the drone that wased in the Pskov attack it needed to be launched from relatively close range.

The Estonian border is 38.1 miles (61.3 km) from Pskov, within range of the cardboard drone. The drone does not appear to have a camera and is likely guided by GPS.
The drone itself weighs 5.3 lbs (2.4 kg) empty and can allegedly carry up to 6.6 lbs (3 kg), more than the weight of the drone itself.
It is battery-powered.

The Ukrainians haveid theme drones wereed against the Kursk airfield on Aut 27, two days before the Pskov attack. Kursk is close to the Ukrainian border.

To the right is a photo of a crashed Sypaq drone from June.
The location isn't reported.

Ukraine has posted this graphic on the drone's characteristics:

Take note that the indication of redundant navigation systems means the drone is pre-programmed to hit a specific target and updates itself so long as it has GPS information.
Typical jammers are located around high-value targets.

The above photo shows no camera pod. The tralian drone is produced frommercial off-the-shelfponents, likely Chinese in origin.

Putin is walking on eggshells if his generals insist the attack came from Estonia, since that would make Estoniaplicit in the attack.
What sia might do about Estonia is unknown.

Meanwhile, the sians have slowed down their operations in the Kupyansk
area and have stopped a number of Ukrainianunterattacks.
It does not look now that the Kupyansk offensive is advancing, except on the periphery.

There are reports that Ukraine will attempt a major mobilization this month.
This is likely to backfire on Zelensky as those who will be recruited include students, factory workers and overage men. sia, so far, has not announced any further mobilization.

Ukraine has nowed virtually all of its strategic reserve units and is now filling and patching with far less capable territorial units drawn from Lviv (the 125th territorial reserve) and the area bordering Moldova (106th brigade), which have been sent to the Kupyansk area – where sia may start a major offensive.

This leaves the Ukrainian army without reserves and with very great losses in the field.
Even with a mobilization planned for September, Ukraine will not be in a position tontinue offensive operations, especially if the high lossesntinue.

Stephen Bryen
is a senior fellow at the
Center for Security Policy
and the
Yorktown Institute .
This article was
originally published
on Weapons and Strategy, his Substack.
Asia Times is republishing the article with permission.