Russian troops have begun setting up fake firing positions with soldier mannequins along roads in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In this way, the occupiers are attempting to distract Ukrainian strike drones, including those equipped with artificial intelligence systems. The Moscow Times reports this, citing Russian and Ukrainian monitoring channels, UNN writes.
Details
The published photographs show pickup trucks with mannequins dressed in military uniforms and helmets, alongside which mock-ups of machine guns have been installed. Such structures imitate mobile firing groups that the Russian army uses to combat drones.
According to the Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+, the occupiers are also setting up small shelters and dugouts along highways, placing mannequins of servicemen inside them.
Why the Russians resorted to this tactic
Since May, Ukrainian forces have intensified strikes on the Russian army's supply routes, including attacks on trucks and fuel tankers on the R-280 "Novorossiya" highway. It runs through the occupied cities of Mariupol, Berdiansk, Melitopol, and Henichesk to Crimea.
The Defense Forces struck a Russian Starlink jamming station in Donetsk region 09.11.26, 16:33
To protect their logistics, Russian troops deployed mobile firing groups along the roads and involved them in escorting convoys. However, these measures proved insufficiently effective.
According to reports by Russian military bloggers, Ukrainian forces are using American Hornet-2 drones, which have machine vision, can independently identify targets, and are resistant to electronic warfare systems.
It is likely that the fake positions with mannequins are intended specifically to counter such systems. At the same time, there is currently no reliable data on the effectiveness of this tactic.
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