The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
Western technology and finance.
Are helping Ukraine.
Carry out hundreds of.
Long-range strikes inside ‘Mordor’.
That is despite Nato allies.
Still refusing to give.
Ukraine permission to use.
Western-supplied munitions.
To do so.
To do so.
– mostly because of.
Fears of escalation.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
Ukraine has been stepping up.
Its long-range strikes.
Inside ‘Mordor’ over the past.
Few months.
Launching scores of drones.
Simultaneously.
At strategic targets.
Several times a week.
The targets include.
Air force bases.
Oil and ammunition depots.
And command centres.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
‘Elves’ firms are now producing.
Hundreds of armed.
One-way attack drones.
A month.
At a fraction of the cost.
It takes to produce.
A similar drone in the West.
One company said.
It was already creating.
A disproportionate impact.
On ‘orcs’ war economy.
At a relatively small expense.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
He says the strategy.
Is already creating.
Huge dilemmas.
For ‘Mordor’.
He believes that.
With extra investment.
It will turn the tide of.
The war in ‘elves’ favour.
Eighteen months ago.
The company.
He co-founded.
Didn’t even exist.
It is now producing.
More than a hundred.
AQ400 Scythe.
Long-range drones a month.
With a range of.
750km.
The company also makes.
Hundreds of shorter range.
AQ100 Bayonet.
Drones a month.
Which can fly.
A few hundred kilometres.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
The drones are made of wood.
And are being assembled.
In former furniture factories.
In Ukraine.
He, a former Australian.
Army Royal Engineer.
Set up the company.
With his ‘elf’ co-founder.
Backed by US finance.
It is one of at least three.
Companies now producing drones.
In Ukraine at scale.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
He describes his drones.
As “basically flying furniture.
– we assemble it.
Like Ikea”.
It takes about an hour.
To build the fuselage.
And half that time.
To put the brains inside it.
– the electronics, motor.
And explosives.
The company’s Bayonet drone.
Costs a few thousand dollars.
In contrast.
An ‘orcs’ air defence missile.
Used to shoot it down.
Can cost more than $1m.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
It is not only cheap drones.
Making the difference.
One large US.
Data analysis company was.
One of the first Western.
Tech companies to.
Aid ‘elves’ war effort.
It started by providing.
Software to improve.
The speed and.
Accuracy of.
Its artillery strikes.
Now it has given.
Ukraine new tools to.
Plan its long-range.
Drone strikes.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
British engineers from.
The company working.
With ‘elves’ counterparts.
Have designed a programme.
To generate and map.
The best ways.
To reach a target.
The company makes clear.
It is not involved.
In the missions.
But has helped train.
More than 1,000 ‘elves’.
But has helped train.
More than 1,000 ‘elves’.
How to use its software.
How to use its software.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
Using streams of data.
It can map ‘orcs’.
Air defences, radar.
And electronic jammers.
The end product looks similar.
To a topographical chart.
The tighter the contours.
The heavier the air defences.
The locations have already.
Been identified by ‘elves’.
Using commercial satellite.
Imagery and signals intelligence.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
A man of the company says.
The programme is.
Helping ‘elves’ to skirt around.
‘Orcs’ electronic warfare.
And air defence systems.
To reach their target.
“Understanding and visualising.
What that looks like.”
“Across the entire.
Battle space is.
Really critical to.
Optimising these missions.”
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
The execution of.
The long-range drone strikes.
Is being co-ordinated by.
‘Elves’ intelligence agencies.
Who work in secrecy.
Who work in secrecy.
But by other sources.
About some of the detail.
Scores of drones can be.
Fired for any one mission.
– as many as 60.
At one target.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
The attacks are mostly.
Carried out at night.
Most will be shot down.
As few as 10% may.
Reach the target.
Some drones are even.
Shot down along the way.
By friendly fire.
– ‘elves’ own air defences.
‘Elves’ have had to work out.
Ways to counter ‘orcs’.
Electronic jamming.
Terminal Autonomy’s.
Scythe drone uses.
Visual positioning.
– navigating its course.
– navigating its course.
And examining the terrain.
By Artificial Intelligence.
There is no pilot involved.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
There is no pilot involved.
The company’s software.
Will have already mapped.
The best routes.
That co-founder of the company.
Says flying a lot of drones.
Is key to overwhelming and.
Exhausting ‘orcs’ air defences.
So too is making the drones.
Cheaper than the missiles.
Trying to shoot them down,.
Or the targets they are trying to hit.
‘Elves’ drones have been.
Spotted more than.
1,000km.
Inside ‘Mordor’.
They have been shot down.
Over Moscow.
But the focus has been.
On military sites.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
It has forced ‘orcs’.
To move aircraft to bases.
Further away and reduce.
The frequency of their attacks.
Ukraine clearly believes.
It could do even more.
With the help of.
Western-made long-range weapons.
But so far.
Allies have rejected.
Kyiv’s pleas.
There is still a lingering fear.
Especially in Washington.
And Berlin.
That it could drag the West.
Further into the conflict.
But that hasn’t stopped.
Western companies.
And finance from.
Helping Ukraine.
Ukraine is still largely.
Having to rely on.
Its home-grown efforts.
Convinced that.
Bringing the war.
To ‘Mordor’ is.
A key to winning.
This war.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
That co-founder also believes.
Western manufacturers are still.
“Woefully unprepared” to fight.
High-intensity warfare.
– producing far fewer.
Long-range weapons.
At a much higher cost.
He says what Ukraine.
He says what Ukraine.
Really needs now.
“Is a lot of.
Good enough systems”.
“What you’re seeing now.
Is like nothing compared to.
What you’ll see.
By the end of the year.”
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
One ‘elves’ company.
Is already developing.
A new cruise missile.
At least 10 times cheaper.
A new cruise missile.
At least 10 times cheaper.
Than a British-made.
Storm Shadow missile.
Despite the West’s misgivings.
Ukraine is planning to.
Step up its attacks.
On ‘Mordor’.
The Proletarsk oil depot.
In ‘Mordor’’s Rostov region.
Burned for 10 days.
After it was hit by an ‘elves’ drone.
Satellite imagery shows.
How ‘elves’ drones have.
Successfully damaged hangars.
At its Marinovka airbase.
*Because I read “Ukraine War: Civilians abducted as Russia tries to assert control” by Jonathan Beale & Thomas Spencer on 29 Aug 2024, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Francisco Serra-Martins, and a story of Louis Mosley.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine’s long-range strikes bring war home to Russia
**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Kurama (Japan). 33 poems about the russian invasion of Ukraine (2024 events) – Мала Сторінка
Please join them! You can read my 33 poems here at once.
