Big Russian Losses: How a Turkish Drone Blocked Putin's Success on Snake Island

Created: 05/11/2022 05:39

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

In the war against Ukraine, Snake Island is of strategic importance for Putin's army.

But a drone is causing problems for Russia.

Snake Island - In the escalating Ukraine conflict, both became symbols of "heroic resistance" against the Russian invasion for the Ukrainian population right from the start of the war: it's about the Ukrainian Snake Island and the Turkish drone Bayraktar TB2.

Even beforehand, it was seen as a weapon feared by Putin's troops.

In the past few days, these two names have been appearing together more and more frequently, because the drone is apparently affecting Vladimir Putin's troops on the island.

A threat against which even the Russian air defense - which had numerous encounters with the TB2 even before the Ukraine war - can only protect to a limited extent.

Snake Island: Strategically important in the Ukraine War - the island became world famous at the beginning of the invasion

Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops around the island is intensifying.

This map shows where the Ukraine war is raging.

Complete control of the island is considered one of the top priorities for Putin's army, which is currently stepping up its attacks on the western port city of Odessa.

For Russia, the island is extremely important from a strategic point of view, because it is the only way to cut off supplies to southern Ukraine, including Odessa, and to attack the city more conveniently.

That reported the

.

The island is also not far from the NATO state of Romania and the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria.

Thus, the Snake Island is the focus of the southwestern front of the Ukraine war.

For this very reason, the small island became the focus of the Russian Navy right at the beginning of the Russian invasion.

She became known around the world when a dozen Ukrainian soldiers on the island responded with "F*ck you!" to the Russian ships "Moskva" and "Vasily Bykov" when they were called to surrender.

With its military superiority, Russia finally managed to take the island.

The Ukrainian soldiers who fought back were not forgotten - there was even a special postage stamp in their honor.

The island itself has not been forgotten either: Now Putin's troops are having serious difficulties on the island, because they are literally at the mercy of the Bayraktar drone.

Ukraine war: Bayraktar TB2 helps Ukraine on Snake Island - Russia already knows it

The Ukraine is a new chapter in the not so pleasant story of the clashes between Russia or Russian military technology and the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone.

It is the jewel of Turkey's defense industry, which has made a massive leap forward in recent years with home-made drones, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, frigates and electronic warfare equipment, among others.

The development of its own fighter jet and tank should also run.

But currently the TB2, which is often equipped with MAM-L missiles from the Turkish Roketsan, is and remains the focus because of the Ukraine war.

With the Bayraktar TB2 drone, the Ukrainian military is attacking Vladimir Putin's troops.

© Imago Images/Mohammad Javad Abjoushak

Turkey had previously used the drone in Syria against the Russian-backed Assad regime, helped the Libyan government in Tripoli defeat warlord Chalifa Haftar, also backed by Moscow, and supported Azerbaijan in its fight against Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In all cases, Russian military equipment was destroyed.

The Turkish and Azerbaijani defense ministries published numerous recordings of the shooting down.

Sometimes it was the Pantsir-S1, sometimes a Buk, sometimes a Tor - air defense systems that are actually supposed to ward off the drone.

However, due to its low radar cross section, the TB2 is difficult to detect and defend against.

Before the war in Ukraine, dozens of drones were sold to Kyiv.

Snake Island: Ukrainian strikes with TB2 and apparently Su-27 - Russian equipment destroyed

Thanks to this, the tide seems to be turning in the battle for Snake Island.

According to the Ukrainian general staff, within a few days the Russian army had lost at least two Raptor patrol boats, a Serna landing ship and, most recently, even a Mi-8 helicopter - all shot down by the Bayraktar.

According to

, the drone also knocked out Strela-10, Tor and Su-23 air defense systems.

Strikes were also made against Russian positions near the island's lighthouse.

In total, Russian troops were attacked dozens of times.

The shots were visually confirmed by the Ukrainian General Staff with footage from the drone camera.

For example, a video shows the destruction of the landing ship, which was most likely used to deliver new air defense systems to the island.

Several Russian soldiers were also on board.

Another video, not yet independently verified, shows the moment the island was attacked by two Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jets.

The recordings appear to be from a TB2.

According to the

, the jets flew extremely low in the attack from the south and also against radar perception.

They may also have benefited from the TB2 attacks, which previously knocked out the island's air defenses.

Moscow itself claims to have shot down two Ukrainian Su-24 bombers and one Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopter.

However, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not provide any evidence for this.

Ukraine-Russia war: Erdogan's son-in-law supplies Kyiv with drones - plans for production

For Baykar, the Turkish manufacturer of the drone, the events in Ukraine are interesting as they show that the drone can operate effectively not only against proxies of Russia, but also against Russia itself.

The TB2 development leader is Selcuk Bayraktar, an MIT student and son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As early as 2005, he manufactured his first mini drone for the Turkish armed forces and promised: "If these projects are supported, we can be number 1 in the world in this field in five years." It took a little over five years , but now armed Turkish drones like the TB2, Akinci, Anka or Aksungur are serious competition for drones from the USA, Israel or China.

Much to the delight of Ukraine, because of the value for money, the TB2 is ideal for Kyiv.

In the future, a production facility will also be built there, according to the Ukrainian state agency

and Baykar sources.

But the fate of this project depends on the outcome of the war.

What is certain, however, is that the drone will occupy the Russian troops more often.