Ukrainian FPV Drone Strikes Cause Russian Armor, 37 Trucks To "Disappear"

It has been a difficult month for Russian forces attempting to attack Ukrainian positions in Donetsk. 

Ukraine's FPV drone forces have been having a field day. JL

Defense Express reports:

Ukrainian troops  repelled an enemy assault in Donetsk Oblast, destroying several enemy armored vehicles, including two infantry fighting vehicles and a tank. Drone operators from the Phoenix reconnaissance and strike UAV unit delivered precise strikes on a Russian logistics unit, causing them to lose several dozen trucks. "Massive destruction of enemy logistics in the Kupiansk sector causes 37 trucks to disappear!" 

Ukraine Ground Drone Rescues Wounded Soldiers Trapped For Month

A Ukrainian ground drone was dispatched 17 kilometers to rescue three soldiers who had been trapped for a month in no-mans-land on the Kharkiv front by Russian drones and snipers.

The operation was complex and involved electronic warfare as well as Ukrainian aerial drones to retrieve the men. The effort was successful - all the men and the UGV were returned to safety. JL

Illia Kabachynskyi reports in United24:

Ukrainian soldiers were cut off on the Kharkiv front. To rescue them, the army deployed a robotic platform. Small and harder to detect, the robot could carry the soldiers to safety. The model chosen can travel up to 30 kilometers and carry a load of up to 200 kilograms. To transport the robot to the stranded soldiers, Ukrainian forces diverted Russian attention from the mission. Aerial reconnaissance and a swarm of bomber drones and other UAVs were deployed to draw Russian troops’ focus. EW and SIGINT was also used. The robot traveled 17 kilometers into the “gray zone” and successfully evacuated all three trapped soldiers. 

33% of Applicants Become Certified Drone Pilots. Why Musicians, Tailors Succeed

Fine motor skills, manual dexterity, reaction speeds of half a second, the ability to think ahead while quickly and competently executing current tasks.

After three years of war, the Ukrainians are learning the physical and mental capabilities required to become an effective drone pilot. It is not for everyone. JL

Matthew Loh reports in Business Insider:

Only a third of candidates make it all the way to certification. 15% of our students are women. Fine motor skills are very important because the drone controls are sensitive. When we screen candidates, we tell them to watch two balls. Then, we tell them which ball to catch. If their reaction speed is slower than half a second, it is not fast enough. To be good with music, your brain has to be wired to think ahead. You have to multitask and plan your next steps while you are already using your fingers for finer movements, a strong sign for a successful drone pilot. Tailors also think ahead to envision what they want material to look like while making decisions and using fine finger movements.

The Impact of New Tariffs On the US: Let Them Eat Ideology?

Capital markets do not seem to be buying the argument that the administration's new "Liberation Day" tariffs will make the economy stronger and American consumers' wealthier. In fact, most major US financial institutions are now raising their estimate of the likelihood that the US will fall into recession as a result. 

Some argue that this is a clever political tactic designed to force an overdue recession early in his term so that the economy is rebounding when the president announces his constitutionally dubious proposition to run for a third term. But in the interim, economists are united in predicting prices will rise, jobs will be lost and that stagflation, not seen in decades, is likely. JL

Noah Smith reports in Noahpinion:

“Tariff” means “import tax”. The only way tariffs could shift production to America from overseas is by raising the prices of imported goods. Historically speaking, these tariffs are enormous. They are much higher than the Smoot-Hawley tariffs imposed at the start of the Great Depression. Like Maoists during China's (economically ruinous) Great Leap Forward, Trump’s apparatchiks are calling for Americans to forsake material prosperity, suck it up and accept lower standards of living to line up behind their President’s ideological program. To them economic isolation is freedom, and that freedom is worth more than your 401(k).  The basic message is “Let them eat ideology.”

As Russia's Sumy Offensive Collapses, Russian Bodies Pile Up

As Ukrainian forces withdrew from much but by no means all of their Kursk salient last month, the Kremlin ordered attacks to try to push them out entirely. But the Ukrainian withdrawal was largely orderly and well-planned, with units pulling back to well designed positions. As a result, the Russian assaults suffered massive casualties and failed. 

So Russia tried and end-around by attacking Ukraine's Sumy oblast. The problem for the Russians was that the losses they incurred in Kursk combined with Ukraine's surprise attack on Russian Belogorod left the Sumy offensive undermanned and without adequate armor or artillery support. The result is that Russia's Sumy effort is now collapsing, as have so many recent Russian offensive operations. JL

Euromaidan Press reports:

Initially, Russian forces attempted to overrun Ukrainian troops by assaulting the contingent as they withdrew from Kursk. (But), the Ukrainians had established solid fallback lines, forcing the Russians into a three-day battle, which delayed their advance. (So) the Russians decided to launch an offensive into Sumy Oblast. However, catastrophic losses sustained in Kursk undermined their ability to follow-up into Sumy. The lack of armored vehicles allowed the Ukrainians' artillery to inflict even more devastating losses on the Russian attacks. (And) the Ukrainian incursion into Belgorod forced the Russians' dwindling reserves to be urgently redirected to hold that Ukrainian advance into Russian territory. 

Russian Attack Between Pokrovsk, Kurakhove Destroyed

Even as the advent of wet, cloudy spring weather makes drone reconnaisance more difficult, the Russians have been unable to catch Ukrainian units off guard.

The attacks continue, despite inadequate troops and weaponry, because the Kremlin is hoping to add territory as a ceasefire bargaining chip and because it believes this will impress the Trump administration, despite the string of Russian failures along the front. JL

Militarnyi reports:

On April 1, near Novopavlivka, Ukrainian Forces repelled eight enemy assaults near the settlements of Kostiantynivka and Rozlyv. The Russians are aiming to capture the entire Donetsk region, so they do not spare their troops, constantly throwing them at Ukrainian positions. The enemy decided to take advantage of unfavorable weather conditions for reconnaissance to launch an attack on Ukrainian positions. (As the accompanying picture shows), after a successful drone strike, the ammunition inside the Russian tank ignited. The flames from the burning propellant charges erupted through the tank’s cannon. “The Russians failed to catch the defenders off guard. The convoy was stopped and burned.”

Growing Russian Attacks in Civilian Cars Lead To Spectacular Explosions - and Death

Russia's now chronic shortage of armored vehicles has now become well known. But rather than change tactics or wait for better equipment, the Russians are simply ordering their cannon fodder troops to attack in unprotected civilian cars and trucks.

The results are often spectacular, but not for the reasons the Kremlin may have hoped: Ukrainian drones, artillery and shoulder-fired weapons destroy with ease the vehicles meant for delivering vegetables or family outings, not for a war zone. JL

David Axe reports in Forbes:

Still short of military vehicles despite the relief in Kursk, many Russian assault groups are riding into battle in Ladas, Buhanka vans, GAZ-69 trucks and other civilian vehicles. Lada assaults often end in disaster as the compact cars run over mines or get peppered by artillery or chased down by explosive FPV drones. One recent Russian assault was notable for how many unprotected vehicles it involved: four ATVs, 10 heavier vehicles, including one open-topped LuAZ-1302 and 31 motorcycles. It’s already suicidal to attack entrenched Ukrainian troops in a Lada. It’s even deadlier when the Lada is packing a TM62 mine with enough explosive to immobilize a tank. It exploded in a fireball 100 feet tall.