As Ukraine shows the world the wreckage of its first-ever Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country is being used as a \u201ctesting ground\u201d for Russia\u2019s new weapons. It\u2019s not just the Oreshnik missiles, but also Moscow\u2019s swarms of Geran-2 drones, which are testing attacks with artificial intelligence and thermobaric warheads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While global attention is focused on the Dnipro attack with the Oreshnik, which can carry a nuclear warhead but can also strike anywhere in Europe, Zelensky is highlighting the increased level of attacks with more than 500 drones used in the past week. In recent weeks, following the use of long-range American and British missiles by the Ukrainians, there has been an escalation in the use of new and more deadly weapons by Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Kiev, Moscow has set up two factories in Tatarstan, about 1,300 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border, capable of producing hundreds of drones each week. The Geran-2s they are building are essentially Iranian-designed Shahed 136 delta-wing drones with 50-kilogram warheads, which may not be as fast as missiles, but they are launched in saturation attacks on Ukrainian air defenses and can cause great damage with the 50-kilogram explosive warhead each carries. In October alone, Russia launched 2,023 of these drones into Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cdetails\u201d are that Moscow is experimenting with such drones to make them even more deadly. This month, the Ukrainian military released a video of a thermobaric warhead, which creates a cloud of fire at around 2,000 degrees Celsius when detonated and is considered particularly deadly if it explodes inside buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n