Media show how units of 7th Air Assault Corps are changing situation on front with middle-strike drones
In the summer of 2026, the Ukrainian military seized the initiative on the battlefield for the first time in a long while. This advantage was achieved in part through the work of middle-strike drones, which are actively used by the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Air Assault Forces.
This is stated in a Ukrainska Pravda report, according to Censor.NET.
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The outlet’s journalists visited the positions of three Corps formations performing combat missions in the Pokrovsk sector: the 237th Separate Unmanned Systems Battalion, the 25th Separate Sicheslav Airborne Brigade, and the 147th Separate Artillery Brigade.
Corps personnel use a range of domestically produced and foreign medium-range UAVs, including the Chaklun, Blyskavka, Darts, and Hornet. The latter is equipped with an AI-powered automatic terminal guidance function. This allows the drone to continue homing in on the target autonomously even if communication is lost.
"It is very effective at homing in on a moving target because AI [artificial intelligence] calculates that the target is moving… It identifies it and automatically homes in on the target," said Mykyta, a Hornet UAV operator with the 25th Airborne Brigade of the 7th Air Assault Corps.
Light kamikaze drones operating at ranges of between 30 and 200 kilometres are typically used to disrupt enemy logistics. The UAVs have established control over Russian rear-area supply routes. As a result, the occupiers are losing the ability to move freely along key roads and deliver ammunition, fuel, and provisions.
"We usually conduct free-hunting missions, meaning that we strike the enemy’s rear. We control roads, logistics, and so on. But there are also stationary targets: ammunition depots, fuel depots, deployment sites, and command posts. We mainly fly to Donetsk, which is 120 kilometres away, but [the UAV] can also fly 350 kilometres," said Kyrylo, commander of a middle-strike drone crew with the 237th Separate Unmanned Systems Battalion of the 7th Air Assault Corps.
The use of middle-strike drones is currently changing the situation in the Pokrovsk sector, one of the intense areas of the front. According to the soldiers, the invaders’ logistics have been significantly restricted; they are running out of vehicles and personnel, and their advance has been completely halted.
Earlier, Brigadier General Yevhen Lasiychuk, commander of the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Air Assault Forces, emphasized the importance of using middle-strike drones in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
According to him, medium-range drones are the present and future of the Ukrainian military, and these systems will be scaled up and introduced into every unit.
