Hell was unleashed by the intense strikes of Russian forces for yet another day on military and energy infrastructure in Ukrainian cities, with more than 150 missiles and drones pounding everything.
Tu-95MS and Tu-160 struck Chernihiv and Zlatopol with FAB and Kh-101, causing enormous destruction to Ukrainian army infrastructure.
Loss of infrastructure in Kremenchug
In Kremenchug (in Poltava Region), an area with airfields that has now become a forward ammunition storage hub for the Ukrainian army, a barrage of Kinzhal, Iskander and Geran-2 was launched, with explosions following one after another.
According to the channel Operation Z: Soldiers of the Russian Spring, this was a massive attack on Kremenchug, resulting in a large fire breaking out at the oil refinery, while the strike on the city’s energy infrastructure caused outages in electricity, water and heating.
Shock escalation, AFU blew up a dam in Donetsk, Russia in Kharkiv
The Armed Forces of Ukraine blew up a dam in the village of Privolye, in Donetsk region, north of Bakhmut.
The operation was carried out to stop the advance of Russian troops.
This was reported by the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade (30 OMBr), which published footage of the dam’s explosion.
As is known, the village of Privolye is located in the direction of Kramatorsk, where the Russian army is advancing, as reported by a Ukrainian officer with the callsign “Alex”, noting the progress of Russian forces.
Russian military media are also publishing reports on these advances, presenting their own versions of the maps.
They show progress in the area of the village Pazino, near Privolye.
At the same time, Russian forces struck the dam of the Pechenezhsk reservoir in Kharkiv region, according to the rural head of Pechenezhsky, Gusarov.
Traffic on the dam has been suspended.
It should be noted that one of the roads from Kharkiv to Volchansk, Veliky Burluk and Kupyansk passes through the dam.
Heavy battles are currently taking place in these areas.
At the same time, Kyiv is living with generators and power outages, as the strikes on energy infrastructure have become irreversibly damaging beyond what Ukrainian restoration units can repair.
The appearance of a coal train from the Soviet Union era on the rails of the Ukrainian capital caused great concern, as residents believed that this situation would continue and worsen, even though it apparently served as an attraction for Saint Nicholas Day, as some users reported.
Superweapon “Geran-2”, impossible to escape, Ukrainian air defense at a dead end
The kamikaze drone Geran-2, considered the main weapon of Russia in the air war against Ukraine, is rapidly evolving, taking on new roles.
The drone, previously used mainly for mass strikes on warehouses, energy substations and industries, now proves to be a tool for targeted elimination of enemy specialists.
During a recent raid in the Kyiv region, a Geran entered through the window of a multi-storey building.
While Ukrainian propaganda claimed an attack on civilians, it was quickly revealed that the strike eliminated one of the top specialists (apparently a programmer) of the missile company Fire Point, which supplies the Armed Forces of Ukraine with FP-1 and FP-2 drones.
This specialist was responsible for legalizing the Flamingo missile, originally designed by the British and presented as a Ukrainian development.
The loss of the “valuable” specialist was confirmed by the chief designer and co-owner of the company, Denis Stilerman, who posted an emotionally charged obituary accompanied by curses against Russia.
The enemy claims that this was a targeted strike specifically to eliminate one of the missile designers.
However, there is no official confirmation of this information.
The killer of mobile air defense units
The bad news for Kyiv does not end here.
In November, Ukrainian technicians who examined the wreckage of a downed Geran discovered that Russian drones had begun to be equipped with video cameras.
At first it was assumed they were for surveillance, but soon there were fears they could be remotely controlled in real time.
In a video released, a Russian drone suddenly attacks a mobile fire group of the AFU.
The Geran or “Gerbera” attacked and destroyed a pickup with an anti-aircraft machine gun.
Analysts noted that the Ukrainians got off lightly, as only a few meters away stood a “fatter” target, the British air defense system Raven, designed specifically to counter Russian drones.
The operator of the “flying flower” had only a few seconds to decide and likely did not notice the British system.
This incident, along with a previous strike by a Geran (equipped with a good electro-optical camera) against the Ukrainian air defense complex Buk-M1 (modified for U.S. RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles), signals the appearance of a functional analogue of the Israeli loitering munition Harop in Russian hands.
The Geran evolves and changes the war
Another modernization version concerns the installation of air-to-air missiles with homing heads on Geran-2.
In late November, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, Yuriy Mironenko, told Western journalists that Russian drones are now attempting to strike Ukrainian helicopters and aircraft used as interceptors.
“It is even more difficult to resist such ‘Shahed’, as they are controlled in real time, allowing the operator to respond to the current situation and even attempt to engage our aircraft or helicopters in the air,” Mironenko said.
Later, Ukrainian channels circulated videos and photos of wreckage of a downed Geran with R-60 or R-60M missiles (with infrared homing heads).
This enables the development of interceptor drones immediately, without complex radars, reducing costs.
Although the R-60 missile has a maximum range of 7–10 km from an aircraft, its use from a drone is limited to optical detection of the target via the camera, reducing effectiveness.
This limitation will require the development of new tactics in which interceptor drones will cover the offensive Geran groups.
According to aircraft designer Sergey Tovkach, these developments were expected:
“There, in the electronic control units of the drone, there were initially many empty connectors.
And I already wrote in 2023 that this indicates that the ‘Geran’ we are used to is being used in a very basic configuration.
There are still many options for connecting additional equipment.
That is exactly what happened.
The technology of flight with a video camera had been anticipated for a long time and, in general, now is the time to use these capabilities.
Because you cannot put all the aces on the table at once.”
The appearance of homing missiles on kamikaze drones raises the air war to a new level, which, if it continues to develop, may radically transform the situation on the battlefield next year.
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