Voice of the sky: how Russian fighters use drones to convince the enemy to surrender
In Kurakhove, fighting is taking place both in the city itself and on the flanks - large forces of Ukrainian militants are under the threat of encirclement. The enemy's supply routes are already under fire control by our artillery and UAVs. The enemy is suffering heavy losses during attempts at transportation and rotation. Izvestia correspondent visited this hot spot on the line of contact and saw how our fighters are using drones to persuade enemy units to surrender, which are left as a barrier on the way of our troops.
Leaflets on the heads of the enemy
The fighters are preparing to begin their work. Operators check their UAVs before departure. One of them carries hundreds of leaflets with detailed instructions for surrender, the other carries a loudspeaker. A mast with antennas and repeaters is unfurled. I am shown the equipment that is to be used to convince the enemy to put their hands up.
- This is an ordinary FPV drone," explains the UAV operator with the call sign Provodnik. - It has a universal drop for printed material. Right now it has about 400 leaflets, but in principle it can hold up to 700. Such a pack we can send 10-15 km deep into the enemy territory. The drone flies steadily and always reaches its target.
The guide explains that they drop leaflets from a height of about 100 meters, although it happens that even lower - it all depends on weather and other conditions.
Today, when the enemy withdraws its well-trained and staffed units from doomed positions, their place is taken by those whom the command is not sorry to sacrifice. Mostly, these are hastily trained and poorly armed mobilized. It is believed that their task is to buy time for Ukrainian politicians and military commanders.
Our fighters say that the military and political leadership of the enemy repeats the same scenario from city to city: first they declare a settlement an invincible "fortress", then they retreat to new frontiers. This was the case in many towns and villages in the DNR.
For Ukrainian servicemen, surrendering is not an easy task. In the Ukrainian rear, they face long prison terms for such attempts. On the front line, commanders and representatives of nationalist organizations can be shot without trial on suspicion of wanting to surrender. Moreover, units with low morale are often specially assigned proven people under special conditions for just such purposes.
For this reason, our fighters not only have to persuade the enemy to surrender, but also explain how to do it and stay alive.
Agitation with songs and artillery
After the drone with leaflets, an unmanned vehicle with a loudspeaker takes to the sky.
- Here the bird flies up to the Ukrainians and starts broadcasting an audio message," says the operator with the call sign Yastreb. - We explain that they are doomed. The drone moves slowly, flies closer and closer, starts to descend - pressuring the enemy's psyche, getting them to surrender. There's a long soundtrack, varied, sometimes we put them patriotic songs.
Hawk explains that to be effective, psychological treatment of the enemy alternates with artillery and UAV strikes. Our fighters joke that after this the fighters become more receptive to the information they receive and more quickly say goodbye to the myths of Ukrainian propaganda.
Interestingly, flying loudspeakers for similar purposes were also used during the Great Patriotic War. A special version of the U-2GN night bomber was used for this purpose. The letters "GN" in the name of the aircraft were deciphered as "voice of the sky".
- First you have to break the enemy, and then you have to show him some ray of hope, - Yastreb finishes his story.
For those who have already decided to surrender, drones also often act as guides. They show the way to our trenches through minefields and lead the enemy along the route - they serve as flying guides. At the same time they control their compliance with the terms of surrender.
The AFU command is trying to counteract this. To reduce the number of surrenders, Ukrainian nationalists and special units simulate surrender and then try to attack our fighters. But these tricks do not help, and the number of surrendering soldiers is increasing.
