Russia is using infrastructure and people in the occupied territories of Ukraine to produce drones - ISW
Kyiv • UNN
Russia is expanding the production and development of drones, using infrastructure and people in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Factories and training centers are integrated into the Russian system.
Russia is using temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine (TOT) to support the domestic drone development and production industry. This was reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), UNN informs.
Details
Analysts refer to a report by the Ukrainian Eastern Human Rights Group (EHRG) and the Institute for Strategic Studies and Security (ISRS), which details how Russia is using land, infrastructure and people in the TOT to expand the development, production and training of drone operators.
The Russian state defense conglomerate "Rostec" seized the Luhansk Aircraft Repair Plant and the Snizhansky Machine-Building Plant and produces drones at both enterprises
It is noted that Russia also uses the Donbas Development Corporation, the Vladimir Zhoga Republican Center for Unmanned Systems, LLC 3D-Tekhno, LLC NVO Front, LLC NPO Utyosov, GC Almaz and PE Grigoriadis (all in occupied Donetsk) and VAT "Pervomaisky Mechanical Plant" (occupied Pervomaiske, Luhansk region) for the production of components and assembly of drone models for the Russian army.
Russia is also using the occupied Ukrainian land to build new training grounds for drones, launch technology training courses in schools and colleges to train drone operators and create new research centers
They emphasize that the Kremlin regularly signals its commitment to increasing the capacity of Russian drone production and improving drone operations on the battlefield in Ukraine and appears to have plans to integrate Ukrainian infrastructure and production capabilities into its broader drone production campaign.
Russia is also integrating Ukrainian children into its broader ecosystem of drone operator training and drone production. ... Russia has introduced drone training programs for more than 10,000 teenagers in secondary schools across occupied Ukraine. Younger children are also trained on drones in schools and after-school programs
They also state that Russia encourages children to participate in drone training in part by "gamifying" the process and holding drone racing competitions in the TOT.
"Russia's efforts to integrate Ukrainian children into drone production and operator training programs pursue three main goals: first, to militarize Ukrainian children by exposing them to hyper-militarized ideals from an early age; second, to prepare Ukrainian children for potential future service in the Russian armed forces; and third, to support the production of a domestic defense industrial base," ISW concludes.
Let us remind you
In Donetsk, schoolchildren are taken to exhibitions with weapons and sledgehammers that were used to kill people. The Center for National Resistance calls this propaganda of violence and recruitment of future criminals for war.