The story so far: Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking Kyiv with a swarm of “kamikaze drones” for the second time within a span of a week. “Every night and every morning, the enemy terrorises the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. A residential building was hit in Kyiv,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said on Telegram.
The attack comes barely a few days after Kyiv and surrounding areas were struck by kamikaze drones on October 13 in a series of deadly assaults across Ukraine in which at least 19 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. The drones were reportedly made in Iran.
Early morning attacks on Kyiv have intensified in the past few weeks after a period of lull. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes on Ukraine came in response to Kyiv’s “terrorist” action, including an attack on a bridge to the Moscow-controlled Crimean Peninsula.
Yasuyoshi Chiba, a journalist with the news agency AFP, photographed one of the drones as it approached Kyiv and its aftermath.
What happened on October 17?
Air raid sirens were sounded in Kyiv at around 6.35 a.m. local time, shortly before the first explosion hit. This was followed by sirens across the country.
Vitaliy Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, said that a total of 28 drones flew towards Kyiv, out of which many were shot down. “A total of 5 explosions were heard in Kyiv. One of them is in a residential building in the Shevchenkiv district,” Mayor Klitschko said on Twitter.
The body of an elderly woman was recovered from the rubble of the residential building attacked in Kyiv on October 18, taking the number of victims to five.
“In the past 13 hours, Ukrainian Army shot down 37 Iranian Shahed-136 drones and 3 cruise missiles launched by Russian terrorists,” the country’s defence ministry said after Monday morning’s attack.
What are kamikaze drones?
Ukraine has accused Russia of using Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones in attacks on both October 13 and October 17, 2022. Kamikaze drones, also called suicide drones, are designed to detonate on contact with the target. It is a type of loitering munition – an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that, as the name suggests, has the ability to “loiter” in the air for an extended period of time before striking the target.
Called a “poor man’s cruise missile” by author J. Michael Cole in 2012, kamikaze drones are low-cost and difficult to intercept by air defence systems. Ukraine has been successful in intercepting and shooting these drones using anti-aircraft missiles, but Defence Express has pointed out that this is a complicated and costly operation.
The kamikaze drones used by Russia to attack Ukraine are believed to be Iranian-made Shahed-136s, rebranded as Geran-2 (or Geranium-2) by Russia.
Shahed-136s are 3.5 metres in length and have a wingspan of 2.5 metres, weigh approximately 200 kg each, and have a range of 1800-2500 km, according to the Ukrainian publication Defence Express, which cites data from Islamic World News. These kamikaze drones have warheads attached to their nose. The drones loiter over the target until it is clear and then nosedive, causing an explosion.
Russia has denied using Iran-made drones, and Iran has denied supplying weaponry to Russia.
U.S. intelligence agencies first claimed that Russia is interested in acquiring UAVs from Iran in July 2022. Mr. Putin also visited Iran in July – only his second visit abroad since the country invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
In August, Wall Street Journal reported that Iran is training Russian officials “to use its advanced drones” in a bid to gain aerial advantage in war against Ukraine.
Origin of kamikaze attacks
Suicide attacks, or kamikaze attacks, originated in Japan during the Pacific leg of World War II. The strategy is believed to have been born out of sheer desperation among the Japanese.
Although the Japanese armed forces had toyed with the idea of crashing their pilots into Allied warships and bases for a few years, some officers were initially opposed to the idea. Rear Admiral Arima is believed to have launched himself into a kamikaze attack in October 1944 on an American aircraft carrier in the Philippines, per the 1996publicationAir Power History.
In the same month, the Empire of Japan officially launched the first kamikaze attack against the Allied powers in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Most kamikaze attacks were carried out by ordinary fighters who crashed economical planes laden with explosives into enemy resources with the intention to cause maximum damage. It is also rumoured that these aircraft were low on fuel to prevent the pilots from returning or taking a last-minute detour.
Etymology
The word kamikaze comes from Japanese and loosely translates to “divine wind”, a reference to a 1281 typhoon that dispersed a Mongol invasion fleet threatening Japan.
Is Belarus complicit?
The Defence Express also reported that Iran-made suicide drones were brought to Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, is an ally of Russian President Putin and has previously been called the “other aggressor” in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Drone and Russian military weapons expert Samuel Bendett also pointed out that it is possible that the drones that attacked Kyiv on October 17 flew from Belarus.
What do experts say?
Researchers at the Institute for the Study of War said that the October 17 drone attack is “consistent with the broader pattern of Russian forces prioritising creating psychological terror effects on Ukraine over achieving tangible battlefield effects”.
Peter W. Singer, a strategist at the New America think tank, said that the drone attacks on Kyiv are comparable to German V-1 flying bomb raids on London during World War II.
(With inputs from agencies)
