Ukrainian forces shoot down Russian air defense systems with kamikaze drones

Ukraine’s SBU Security Service has released aerial footage showing “kamikaze” (suicide) drones in pursuit of modern Russian air defense systems.

A dramatic new video shows the moment when Ukrainian suicide drones chased a Buk-M1 (SA-11 Gadfly) medium-range surface-to-air missile system and three short-to-medium-range Tor-M2 (SA-15 Gauntlet) systems.

As the chase intensified, the drones descended a few dozen feet above the ground and struck the Russian air defense systems. One of the Tor systems attempted to shoot down a suicide drone, but the pilot kept the drone safe by manually deflecting it from the missile’s trajectory.

And the open-source intelligence website Oryx reported that Russia has apparently lost 16 Tor-M2 series surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems and 11 Buk-M1 series surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems in Ukraine since Russia began the invasion.

The security service said in a post on Saturday that its forces also destroyed three Nona self-propelled artillery systems, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 2 tanks, an electronic warfare station and enemy fortifications with kamikaze drones.