Ukraine shoots down Chinese-made armed drone allegedly fired by Russia

Ukrainian soldiers have found on their territory the remains of what is apparently a civilian drone manufactured by a Chinese company, modernized and armed, allegedly used by Russia, according to CNN on Thursday.

The drone was shot down in a Ukrainian forest whose location is not specified and its remains were shown to journalists of the U.S. network by Ukrainian soldiers after ensuring that they had shot it down with their Ak-47 automatic weapons.

According to CNN, it was a Mugin-5 drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufactured by a Chinese company based in the port city of Xiamen, on the east coast of the Asian country.

The news network quotes some technology bloggers who claim that these devices are known as ‘Alibaba drones’, as they have been available for sale for about $ 15,000 on websites in the Chinese market, including distributors Alibaba and Taobao.

The company Mugin Limited confirmed to CNN that it was the fuselage of a device of its manufacture and called the incident “deeply unfortunate.”

The price of such drones is very cheap for military equipment, Lincoln-Jones told CNN. It demonstrates the lack of Russia's military superpower everyone might have expected of it.https://t.co/rQiiOeUSsb

— The New Voice of Ukraine (@NewVoiceUkraine) March 16, 2023

It is the latest example of the use of a civilian drone being modernized and weaponized for use in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a sign that the patterns of warfare used by Moscow are changing rapidly.

Ukrainian soldiers explained to reporters that the drone was flying at very low altitude when it was spotted and close enough to shoot it down with automatic weapons, and that the craft had been adapted to carry a bomb.

The armed commercial drone did not have a camera installed, meaning it could not have been used for surveillance.

“This particular drone we’ve been looking at would be a lot more effective if it had a decent camera,” said Chris Lincoln-Jones, a retired British Army officer and drone specialist consulted by the U.S. network. Lincoln-Jones also added that this commercial drone incident adds more evidence to the theory that Russia is not the military superpower the world might have expected.

-Thailand News (TN)