ROBOT WARS
How terrified Putin is being blitzed by drone attacks from air & sea as Ukraine launches 120 strikes in just six months
A FEARFUL Vladimir Putin is under attack from Ukrainian air and sea drone strikes that are bringing the war achingly close to his doorstep.
In the so-called "War of the Drones", Kyiv has been fighting back with increased vigor and equipment, launching 120 suspected strikes deep into Russia in only six months.
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In the last 48 hours, suspected Ukrainian drones have hit targets both in the Russian capital and further afield, including the annexed Crimea.
In this game of war, Ukraine appears to be raising the stakes and employing its newest weaponry to strike fear into the heart of Russia.
The bolder steps of recent weeks come amongst a burgeoning counter-offensive, which is finally breaking through long-frozen Russian frontlines.
The sea and air attacks seem mostly concerned with waging psychological warfare on their oppressor by terrifying ordinary Russians and embarrassing Putin, rather than focusing on large-scale destruction.
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And yet, Moscow could be attacked many more times thanks to Ukraine's new fleet of crowd-funded kamikaze attack UAVs - "Bober" (Beaver) drones.
These long-distance weapons are believed to be responsible for a recent spout of attacks on Russia as they can fly for over six hours at a range of 500 miles.
They are also nifty at evading Russia's air defense systems owing to their aerodynamic "duck" system that allows for a rapid change in flight altitude.
Despite costing around £86,000-a-piece, Kyiv has been ramping up production of the Ukrainian-invented and Ukrainian-manufactured drone.
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"Ukraine currently has the highest level of UAV production in the world," said Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine's minister responsible for increasing military production.
“Such a level of production of lethal, ground and floating drones as in Ukraine is not found in any country in the world,” he said, adding that Ukraine already has over 100 companies producing drones.
Glimpses of the kamikaze attack drone have been rare, but back in May a popular Ukrainian influencer, Ihor Lachenkov, showed off the beast.
At the end of last year, reported that he received a call from officials in Ukrainian intelligence asking him for help to fund a "drone that can fly very far".
In May, Lachenkov thanked his millions of followers for helping to raise half a million and attached photos of a never-before-seen drone - the "Bober".
Smooth, sparkling and ferocious-looking - Luchankov looked pleased and proud.
So too did prominent TV personality on the weekend as he posed in front of freshly-made Bobers. He raised over £4million to buy them for Ukraine's army, which wants a fleet of over 100.
On the weekend, he declared: "Muscovites! Shudder from the sirens. Go to bomb shelters. Watch as it flies into strategic objects. Do not sleep from the work of air defense."
Last night, dramatic footage showed a massive explosion after a fresh drone strike hit a skyscraper in Moscow that houses the Russian Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Communications.
The overnight hit on the IQ Building in the heart of the capital's business district was the second strike in two nights in a major blow for Putin.
In the early hours of Sunday, kamikaze drones unleashed chaos in the heart of Moscow's business district in a three-pronged attack.
Fireballs erupted in major buildings while skyscrapers were shattered by the strikes just miles from the Kremlin - striking fear into the hearts of Muscovites.
The Kremlin bluntly threatened the use of nuclear weapons in wake of the strike, saying: "There is simply no other way out."
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Medvedev warned that if the Ukranian offensive was successful with the help of Nato then Russia "would go for the use of nuclear weapons."
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to bring the war to Russia.
Following the drone strike on Sunday, Zelensky claimed the attacks were "inevitable" and "fair".
He said: "Today is the 522nd day of the so-called 'Special Military Operation', which the Russian leadership thought would last a couple of weeks.
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"Russian aggression has gone bankrupt on the battlefield Ukraine is getting stronger.
"Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia - to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process."
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