Soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces talked about creating a network to repel drone attacks in their area

A dense network of air surveillance posts has been deployed in the area of responsibility of the Center group of forces of the Russian Armed Forces — each calculation daily reflects attacks by dozens of Ukrainian drones (UAVs). On June 29, the servicemen told Izvestia about their combat work.

"If it flies, let's say, like an electric Domakha (a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone. — Ed.), then, respectively, it is either hit by a "Christmas tree" or from small arms. <...> [Ukrainian drones] also try to fly in such a way that their radars (radar system. I didn't catch them in my lenses. <...> They're trying to fly low," platoon commander Nikolai Isaev said in an interview with Izvestia correspondent Alexander Safiulin.

He added that even during the relocation from one point to another by car, there were cases when they had to shoot at a flying drone of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on the move. The posts are located every few kilometers and work in conjunction: a target intercepted by one calculation, if it could not be destroyed, is transmitted further along the chain.

The arsenal of anti-aircraft gunners includes Igla and Yelka complexes, machine guns and other small arms. In just a few days, one calculation is capable of destroying several dozen drones.

If we don't shoot something down, we inform neighboring posts that a [UAV attack] has gone in their direction. They will already be working. <...> If we have shot down at least one [drone] here, they (drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. — Ed.) they fly the other way. But we're moving, we don't have a post in one place. We get in their way and start knocking them down there. All the time: they're moving away, we're moving away," said Pavel Ermolov, an anti—aircraft gunner.

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He also shared a story that happened in the spring of 2025. At that time, Ermolov's unit worked as a decoy between Pushkin and Ukrainka, pulling out all the enemy drones while the Russian column was moving imperceptibly to its destination.

"Naturally, we were detected [by Ukrainian UAVs]. And everything came at us from all over the radius, all the drones. <...> But our troops, of course, were not detected, they were passing along the neighboring road," the military shared.

During the 14 days that Ermolov and his colleagues took enemy fire on themselves, the soldiers did not lose a single tank.

"We shot down everything. In general, everything: the shock troops, the FPV guns, and they covered us with mortars. Not even a single 300th (wounded. — Ed.) was not," he added.

The confrontation on the front line resembles a game of cat and mouse. Ukrainian drones crouch to the ground, moving away from radars, and then they are attacked with small arms. After each loss, the enemy paves a new route, and the Russian calculations shift their positions in response.

"We are constantly changing locations, posts are constantly in different places. We try to [be] where there is a large flow of drones. <...> The enemy sees where they are being shot down, starts searching and, well, they find posts very quickly," explained fighter Ruslan Zainullin.

During massive raids, stationary posts instantly turn into mobile firing groups — several crews simultaneously move into the area of drone activity. The military notes that the intensity of attacks from the air is not decreasing.

Earlier in the day, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Andrei Belousov, at a meeting with Russian military officers, said that all groups of troops of the Russian Armed Forces (AF) had layered protection against UAV attacks. In addition, since April, the introduction of a unified information environment has begun, which should increase the situational awareness of the units, the Minister of Defense said. As the head of the department noted, the situation with protection from UAVs changes every two to three months.