Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin said Russian forces were advancing along the entire line of contact in the special military operation zone. Putin said the advance had accelerated recently.
Assessments of the fighting in Ukraine on the same day indicated that Russia may have changed its battlefield tactics and begun relying more heavily on FPV drones instead of artillery systems and tanks.
Precision strikes with FPV drones
Under this approach, Ukrainian positions were not subjected to intense artillery fire before an attack. Instead, unmanned aerial vehicle teams identified specific positions, vehicles and personnel and carried out precision strikes.
The intensive use of Russian unmanned aerial vehicles may drive Ukrainian troops into shelters, allowing Russian assault groups to gain greater freedom of movement.
Compared with artillery systems and armored vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicle teams can be deployed across smaller areas and dispersed or concealed several kilometers behind the front line.
These teams can use multiple relatively low-cost drones simultaneously without putting major weapons systems at risk during every attack.