Ukraine has struck again, destroying a major Russian FSB headquarters near occupied Henichesk and reportedly eliminating around 100 enemy troops in the process. Even a Pantsir-S1 air defense system couldn’t stop the devastating drone assault, highlighting Ukraine’s growing dominance in long-range precision warfare. As Russian defenses continue to fail, Kyiv’s strategy of dismantling air defenses before targeting critical infrastructure is reshaping the battlefield and exposing serious cracks in the Kremlin’s war machine.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ukraine just dismantled the myth of Russian air defense again. It took out yet another major
00:05Russian military installation, eliminating an estimated 100 enemy troops in the process.
00:11It's just the latest in a long line of increasingly devastating attacks, perfectly planned and
00:17flawlessly executed, demonstrating the ever-growing might of the Ukrainian armed forces
00:21and the ever-weakening prospects of their opponents. Details of the attack were shared
00:26on May 21st by none other than the Ukrainian president himself Volodymyr Zelensky.
00:31He confirmed that the Special Forces Alpha Team of the Ukrainian Security Service
00:36carried out the strike, which targeted a Russian Federal Security Service headquarters,
00:42which was reportedly located near the city of Henichesk, a port city in the partially
00:47occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine. Looking out across the Sea of Azov, Henichesk sits
00:52on the Arabat Spit or Arabat Arrow, a barrier spit that separates the sea from the Sivash,
00:58a series of salty lagoons, and stretches all the way down to eastern Crimea.
01:02There, according to reports, the FSB had established quite a sizeable command post,
01:07with some analysts suggesting that they repurposed some sort of old hotel or resort complex.
01:12Regardless of what it once was or how it was once used, the area had been entirely taken over by
01:18Russia's Secret Service, with nine main buildings in total. Every single one of those buildings was
01:23targeted by Ukraine's world-leading drone operators, with some unmanned aerial vehicles
01:29reportedly striking the roofs of the structures and others flying through the windows to blow up the
01:33buildings from within. Numerous large-scale explosions were reported at the site, and a
01:38massive fire subsequently broke out as well. This was backed up by video evidence, which was shared
01:43online by the SBU and quite conclusively showed the enormous impact of the drones as they collided
01:49with various parts of the complex, triggering massive bursts of fire, shrapnel, and smoke.
01:54Additionally, NASA's firm's satellite monitoring service detected high thermal signatures at the
01:59strike sites on May 17, the date the attack reportedly took place. Zelensky's report also shed
02:05further light on the strike. There are good results from the soldiers of the SBU's Special Operations
02:10Center A. The headquarters of the Russian FSB officers were hit, and an anti-aircraft complex
02:16Pantsir S-1 was destroyed in our temporarily occupied territory. Thanks to this operation alone,
02:21the Russians suffered losses of about 100 occupiers killed and wounded. The Russians should understand
02:26that they need to end this war of theirs. Ukrainian sanctions of medium and long range will continue to
02:31work. Let's dig a little deeper into the facts. First, Zelensky mentioned a Pantsir S-1. That's one of
02:36Russia's best air defenses. Part of the larger Pantsir family, the S-1 is a self-propelled,
02:42short-to-medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system, designed primarily
02:47to protect military units, infrastructure, and even other air defenses. It uses a combination of
02:5330mm autocannons and radar-guided missiles, harnessing both targeted acquisition radar
02:58and electro-optical systems to track up to 40 targets at a time. It's also able to engage numerous
03:04threats simultaneously, including everything from aircraft and helicopters to drones or precision
03:09munitions. In short, this is a relatively high-end piece of hardware, and Pantsirs have been used
03:14extensively over the course of the conflict so far. Russia has relied on them to help counteract the
03:19effects of Ukrainian drone swarms and low-flying aircraft, for example. Each unit can be worth up to
03:24$20 million, so the fact that Ukraine was able to destroy one is a real sign of success for Kyiv's
03:29forces and another economic headache for the enemy. Then there's the human cost of the attack.
03:34An estimated 100 Russian troops either killed or wounded, all in the span of a single day.
03:39There hasn't been any third-party confirmation of the exact kill count,
03:42but the video evidence paints a clear picture. The explosions are so large, it's almost impossible
03:47that anyone in any of those buildings was able to make it out in one piece.
03:51So even if the Ukrainian estimate is potentially a little on the high side, it's highly likely that
03:56there were dozens of Russian casualties at least. But perhaps the most damning element of the entire
04:01story is the fact that there was an air defense system in this area, the Pantsir S1, yet it
04:05clearly wasn't sufficient to protect the facility or even to defend itself. According to analysts,
04:11those drones likely traveled around 200 kilometers to reach their destination,
04:16or perhaps even more, depending on where they were launched from. They traveled all that way,
04:21potentially crossing other air defenses en route, as well as the Pantsir that they ultimately
04:25eliminated, but still weren't shot down. What's more, the sheer size of the impact suggests that
04:30the drones were carrying larger-than-average warheads. For a long time, when it came to
04:34planning and executing drone attacks, Ukraine was so often forced to make a choice between range or
04:39distance. It could only have one or the other, either sending its drones further but with smaller
04:44warheads, or packing in more explosive firepower by having to focus on targets that were closer to
04:49home. From what we know about this attack, however, it seems that the problem of this trade-off has,
04:54at last, been solved, as Ukraine appears to be launching more damaging and devastating drone
04:58attacks on targets that are significant distances away. And this isn't just a one-off incident,
05:04it's part of an increasingly long list of examples of Russia being utterly unable to adequately protect
05:09its most important locations, even those that are quite far from the front lines. Indeed, only a couple
05:15of days after the Kherson attack, overnight on May 19, Ukraine celebrated another successful strike,
05:21this time deep in the occupied Donetsk region, in the city of Shizna. There, drone pilots from
05:27Ukraine's unmanned systems forces carried out a precision attack against their Russian counterparts.
05:32They found and destroyed a training center used by the Russian armed forces to prepare UAV operators
05:37for combat. Robert Brovdy, codenamed Magyar, is one of the most well-known spokespeople for the unmanned
05:43systems forces, shared details of the attack on Facebook. He revealed that the mission had been named
05:48Snowfar Akhmat, as Shizna translates to Snowy in English. Magyar also explained that 11 attack drones
05:55were used, each one armed with 100kg warheads, and went on to reveal the impact of the attack.
06:02We hit a training and production facility and temporary deployment point of the 78th Seva Akhmat
06:07Motorized Special Purpose Regiment, named after A.A. Kadyrov, operating as part of the 42nd Division of the
06:13Worms Army. The main two-story compound, covering 2,484 square meters, housed UAV and warhead assembly
06:20facilities, and a floor where personnel were stationed. The stock of ammunition in the basement
06:25added unforgettable impressions for the worms who were at the site. Magyar went on to note that an
06:30estimated 65 Russian Special Forces cadets were killed in the attack, along with the head of the
06:35center, who also happens to be a doctor of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Services,
06:39codenamed Buri. Again, this is exactly the kind of place that the Russians should be able to protect.
06:45It's in occupied territory, it's an important military location, and it shouldn't have been
06:49that difficult for what is supposed to be the world's second strongest army to set up adequate
06:54air defenses around it. Yet once again, Ukrainian drones were able to fly into the area unopposed and
06:59take out their target with impunity. And this sort of thing is happening with increasing regularity as
07:04the war goes on. In late April, for example, drone operators from the 413th Separate Regiment of the
07:10Unmanned Systems Forces successfully struck Russia's Bars Sarmat Center, a major drone development site in
07:16the occupied Zaporizhia region. According to the military's report, strike targeted a temporary
07:21deployment point, along with several workshops where Russian forces manufactured and equipped
07:26everything from UAVs to ground robotic systems and electronic warfare equipment as well.
07:31Earlier in April, there was an even bigger attack, with numerous targets wiped off the face of the
07:35earth by Ukraine's lethal drone pilots. Over the course of a single night on April 15,
07:40the Unmanned Systems Forces eliminated three separate air defense missile systems, two Iskander bases,
07:46a Rubicon base, two oil depots, an ammunition depot in Crimea, and several military facilities in Donetsk,
07:53for a grand total of 16 targets. Again, Magyar was proud to share the news online,
07:58describing how pilots from the 9th Kairos Battalion of the 414th Magyar's Birds Separate Brigade
08:03pulled off the almost miraculous attack. It's reaching a point where barely a single week passes
08:08without headlines and news reports emerging of yet another strike like this. Time and time again,
08:13Ukraine's drones are wiping out high-value Russian targets, often focusing on either air
08:18defense systems or the infrastructure those systems are supposed to protect. Before we look
08:22closer at the long-term impacts of these attacks. If this is the kind of insight you want more of,
08:27make sure you are subscribed to the military show. We break it down like this every single week.
08:33The more frequent these attacks become, the worse it gets for Russia. Already,
08:37some of the country's most hard-line nationalist military bloggers are airing their frustrations
08:41and even turning on the Kremlin, wondering how and why attacks like these are being allowed to happen.
08:46And it's not difficult to understand their anger. Russia is supposed to be one of the greatest
08:50military powers on the planet. It's supposed to be fighting a far smaller and weaker opponent.
08:55It was supposed to have won this war years ago. Yet here we are, over four years into the fighting,
09:01and rather than being on the brink of victory, Russia has never looked weaker while Ukraine has
09:05grown from strength to strength. And attacks like this truly serve to highlight the dramatic differences
09:10in the two sides' strategies, tactics, and overall abilities to adapt to the challenges they face
09:15and the changing conditions of the war on the whole. On the one side there's Russia,
09:19which has from day one essentially operated on the unshakable belief that brute force is all
09:24that's needed to win this war. While its tactics might have slightly shifted over time, transitioning
09:29from an initial focus on armor and mechanized assaults to become more oriented around drones
09:33and glide bombs over time, the overall strategy has always seemed to boil down to one simple principle.
09:39If Russia throws enough men and munitions at Ukraine, it will eventually win. The country's defenses
09:44won't be able to hold out forever and will eventually fall. And even if that costs a million lives,
09:49billions of dollars in equipment, the Kremlin's victory should be inevitable.
09:53The problem is that even if a Russian victory might have looked inevitable in the early stages
09:57of the war, it hasn't felt that way for several years now. The country's territorial gains have
10:02diminished, its casualties have skyrocketed, and its progress towards achieving its objectives has
10:06stalled, stagnated, and even regressed in some areas. This doesn't mean that Russia is about to lose
10:12the war, nor does it mean that Russia isn't still dealing damage to Ukraine. The Kremlin's war machine
10:17continues to carry out near-daily long-range strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities,
10:20relying heavily on missiles and drones to do so. It continues to kill civilians and smash
10:25infrastructure at scale. Yet Ukraine continues to resist.
10:29Because even though Russia's approach causes a lot of bloodshed and brutality,
10:32it's also an approach that lacks any sort of clear direction or intention.
10:36The Kremlin simply seems to think that all it has to do is keep pushing,
10:39keep sending the swarms and the missiles and the glide bombs, and eventually Ukraine will buckle and
10:43break. It's keeping up the pressure, but generally just doing the same thing again and again,
10:48while somehow expecting different results. Meanwhile, on the other side of this conflict,
10:52we have Ukraine, which has taken a drastically different approach to the war, focusing on
10:57innovation, adaptation, and making the most of every single resource at its disposal.
11:01It's tricky to see the logic in Russia's drone and missile strikes, but it's much easier to see it in
11:06Ukraine, and the strike on the FSB base, combined with other recent attacks on drone training centers,
11:11air defenses, and other military facilities, demonstrates the country's plan quite conclusively.
11:16It's a two-phase plan. Phase 1 revolves around systematically destroying as many Russian air
11:21defenses as possible. S-300s, S-400s, Pantsirs, Bucks, Tors, all of these systems and others are
11:28being hunted down and eliminated by Ukrainian drone crews, falling like dominoes with every passing week.
11:34Some costing tens of millions of dollars, others hundreds of millions. Some even get close to the
11:39billion-dollar mark. Every time one of these systems is taken out, Russia suffers a serious
11:44financial loss, and it doesn't have an endless supply of these systems to simply replace those
11:48that are destroyed. It takes time, money, and materials to make more of them, and in the meantime,
11:53Russia is left with additional gaps in its defenses. That's where phase 2 comes in.
11:57Once the defenses are down, Ukraine has the freedom to deploy its heavier weapons like bigger drones that
12:02may move a little more slowly but have significantly larger payloads against Russian infrastructure.
12:07And that's why we continue to see the likes of refineries, logistics nodes, command posts,
12:12headquarters, and other high-value targets set ablaze by Ukrainian munitions week in, week out.
12:17It's not by chance or luck. It's by design.
12:21Ukraine is constantly gathering data about its enemy, finding out where its defenses are placed,
12:26and figuring out the best ways to eradicate. And it's gotten so much better at all of these things
12:30as the war has continued. Indeed, if we roll back the clocks just a couple of years, this sort of
12:35thing
12:35simply wasn't happening with any regularity. Ukraine did launch deep strikes against Russian
12:40targets from time to time, but its attacks were generally quite sporadic, sometimes spaced out
12:45by several weeks or months. And they didn't always deal that much damage, as the country didn't yet
12:49have the sophisticated weapons or additional experience it has today. Now things are completely
12:54different. More resilient and better equipped to cope with the conditions of the conflict, Ukraine is
12:59wreaking havoc on its enemy and barely giving them time to catch their breath in between each attack.
13:04Similarly, there was once a time in this war when the only Russians that were really at risk of being
13:08killed by Ukrainian drones were those either at the front lines or quite close to them,
13:12because drones could only go so far before being inevitably shot down. Now, yet again,
13:17it's a different story. Increasingly, we're seeing reports of Ukrainian drones flying tens or even
13:22hundreds of miles into enemy territory, deep into the occupied regions, or even over the border and into
13:27Russia, seeking and destroying the Kremlin troops with ease. No one is safe. Nowhere is safe.
13:33And it's all thanks to Ukraine's master plan, which revolves, quite simply,
13:37around making this war as difficult as possible for Russia to fight. It's about nullifying the
13:42enemy's defenses, destroying their most valuable assets, and severing the supply lines that continue
13:47to feed the front lines and fuel the Kremlin's war machine. And it's working incredibly well.
13:52Because as Russia gets weaker, Ukraine gets stronger. The more defenses it eliminates,
13:56the more pathways open up for additional attacks. The more infrastructure it destroys,
14:00the more time and money Russia has to spend carrying out repairs. And the more supply lines it cuts,
14:05the harder it becomes for the Kremlin's frontline forces to survive and plan their next moves.
14:10It's reaching a point where Ukraine could, theoretically, carry out deep strikes against
14:14Russian high-value targets on an almost daily basis. In fact, between May 1st and 21st,
14:20Ukraine's unmanned systems forces stated that they had eliminated 20 air defense systems in total.
14:25That's basically one per day. This is simply not sustainable from the Russian perspective.
14:29How can the country expect to win a war when it can't even defend its own infrastructure,
14:33many miles from the front? How can it continue to expect some sort of inevitable victory when its
14:38defenses are dropping like flies? The simple answer? It can't. Russia is losing. It's suffering
14:45strike after strike and its military leaders are failing to find any solutions to the problems they
14:49face. They are being forced to effectively ration their remaining air defenses,
14:53repositioning systems to the most high-profile locations while leaving others completely exposed.
14:58The evidence of this is arguably most visible in Crimea, where Russian military bloggers have
15:03been complaining that the Kremlin seems to have abandoned any notion of trying to adequately defend
15:07the territory it illegally seized in 2014. One blogger called Maxim Kalashnikov, for example, says,
15:14The land route to Crimea increasingly resembles the roads in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
15:18The remains of destroyed vehicles are scattered along the sides of the road.
15:22The enemy is disrupting the supply with drones. Another blogger added that there appears to be
15:26a systematic effort to cut off the land logistics corridor to Crimea, while one named Romanov notes,
15:32It's an obvious fact that the number and frequency of such attacks will soon increase.
15:36However, this is not obvious to the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of
15:40Russia. Along the route, there are no small sky monitoring posts, so nobody will counter the drone
15:45teams. He adds that there's nobody in the area to keep civilians safe, no mobile observation groups,
15:51no protective nets in place to guard against future drone attacks. Again, this is not normal.
15:56In the past, in areas that are important for logistical reasons or close to the front lines,
16:00Russia was at least able to mount a decent amount of defenses. It had nets and other anti-drone measures
16:05in place, for example, as well as electronic warfare jammers, mobile drone teams, and so on.
16:09Now, there's none of that. And it's not because Russia doesn't care or doesn't want to defend the
16:14territories it's taken. It's simply because Ukraine is doing such a stellar job of striking
16:18the right places at the right times, making it almost impossible for its enemy to organize any
16:23sort of serious defense. With an increasingly finite amount of assets and resources to work with,
16:28and an increasing number of strikes raining down on its infrastructure and defenses,
16:32Russia's prospects have never looked this grim. You can learn more about the country's catastrophic
16:37collapse in this video. Or for another example of Ukraine outwitting and outthinking its opponent,
16:42check out this video, which looks at how Kyiv's elite hackers managed to lure unsuspecting Russians
16:46into inescapable death traps. Don't forget to subscribe to The Military Show for more insights,
16:52analysis, and breaking military news from around the world. And thank you, as always, for watching.
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