The television show, "Time Will Tell," on the Russian government channel, "Channel One," showed a workshop on the front lines that was assembling and modernizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for Russia's 88th Brigade. The workshop is located on the Chasiv Yar direction of the front and is designed, it seems, to offset the military's lack of military supplies. One of Espanola's servicemen, commenting on the report, noted that such workshops are becoming commonplace among Russian brigades.
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A Russian war correspondent posted a short video report about the course of Russo-Ukrainian hostilities at the Chasiv Yar direction of the front, which aired on Russian state television on December 12, 2024. The report focused on the operations of the well-known 88th brigade, which includes football fans and hooligans. In one of the episodes of the report, the correspondent shows the brigade's workshop for the production and modernization of drones.
The screenshot depicts the correspondent at the frontline UAV workshop. He states: "I would probably call it an entire research institute, because this is also the place where new developments are being invented." In the background, one can spot the Image of Edessa flag, popular among nationalists and Orthodox servicemen. (Source: Channel One, 1tv.ru)
The correspondent notes that the 88th Brigade has managed to establish a full cycle of drone production and repair in the immediate vicinity of the contact line – that is, the physical boundary where Russian forces face Ukrainian forces. The workshop also designs and tests new UAVs and drone technologies. During his interview with the chief engineer of the brigade, the engineer shows a cargo drone for the emergency delivery of provisions to hard-to-reach zones on the front lines.
A view of the cargo drone assembled by the brigade. (Source: Channel One, 1tv.ru).
The brigade also designs heavier drones, such as the Kikimora series, with a planned payload capacity of 10 and 50 kilos. In an interview with the newspaper Izvestia, a correspondent noted that due to the Ukrainian forces having superior drones, Moscow experiences problems in supplying units located directly on the contact line. Heavy drones are designed to solve this problem, he explains: "The first task [for Kikimora drones] is to carry provisions, ammunition, medicine. The second - to carry powerful ammunition. A carrying capacity of, for example, 10 kg allows one to load an anti-tank mine. Moreover, ammunition can be varied," he stated. It also seems that such UAV workshops are increasingly becoming commonplace among Russian brigades. It seems they are intended to compensate for the shortcomings of the country's military-industrial complex.
A Telegram channel affiliated with the 88th Brigade demonstrates combat tests of one of the drones in the Kikimora series, designed by the brigade's UAV workshop. In the video, the Kikimora UAV drops a high-explosive fragmentation special munition, weighing 2.5 kilograms, from a height of over one hundred meters in winds of up to 15 miles per second.
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