The Defense Ministry in Moscow has released a series of videos showing its elite Rubicon drone unit intercepting Ukrainian long-range attack UAVs heading deep into Russian territory and striking Kiev’s military equipment, including Western-supplied artillery systems.
On Friday, a Ukrainian drone raid on Moscow temporarily shut down all four of the capital’s international airports, disrupting dozens of flights and triggering an evacuation alert at Sheremetyevo. The same day, Kiev’s missiles struck a civilian enterprise in the city of Oryol during rush hour, according to Governor Andrey Klychkov.
The attacks came despite renewed diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, with Moscow announcing plans to resume trilateral talks with Washington and Kiev following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday.
Russia has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians to offset battlefield setbacks and has intensified strikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure in response. Moscow maintains that it does not target civilians.
One of the clips published by the Defense Ministry on Friday captured more than 20 interceptions of Ukrainian long-range UAVs by Rubicon’s FPV-drone operators.
The destroyed hardware included FP-2 models, capable of carrying up to 100 kg of explosives to a distance of up to 2,000 km, and Anubis drones with a payload of up to 50 kg, it said.
Another clip showed Russian UAVs ramming numerous medium-range kamikaze-drones such as Ukrainian-made Chakluns and Bliskavkas as well as the Hornets, produced by Swift Beat, a company run by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
The other three videos featured a montage of successful strikes by Rubicon’s FPV-drones against Ukrainian targets on the ground, with armored vehicles, artillery pieces, robotic systems and communication devices being hit.
One of them captured the destruction of a French-supplied CAESAR howitzer near the village of Zelenoye in Russia’s Donetsk People Republic (DPR).
In another clip, the Russian UAV operators are seen discovering and eliminating a US-made М119 artillery system in an undisclosed location.
The final video shows Rubicon’s drones in action near the city of Krasny Liman in the DPR, where Russian forces are continuing to move steadily forward.