Russia using decoy targets to search for Ukraine’s air defenses
Russia is increasingly using decoy targets during massive missile attacks (Photo:REUTERS/Vladyslav Smilianets)
Russia is increasingly using decoy targets during massive missile attacks to detect Ukrainian air defense systems, head of the Joint Coordination Press Center of the Southern Defense Forces Natalia Humeniuk said on national television on March 14.
Ukrainian Defense Forces are aware of and actively countering this tactic, she said.
She explained that by using decoy targets during the massive missile strikes, Russia is searching for Ukraine’s air defense systems to target with a follow-up strike.
"But this work is currently ineffective," she added.
On March 13, Humeniuk stated that there are signs that Russia is preparing for a new missile strike on Ukraine.
Earlier, following a heavy missile attack on Feb. 16, Air Force Command spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on Ukrainian television’s Channel 24 that Russia usually used Shahed drones at night to probe into Ukrainian air defense system, identifying positions and correcting for a possible missile attack in the morning.
Additionally, the aggressor has begun to use false targets to wear down Ukrainian air defense forces, he said.
False targets can come in the form of balloons with attacked radar reflectors, drones, and Kh-55 cruise missiles with dummy warheads, Ihnat said. He said that the Air Force had to react to the targets, false or otherwise.
“These are returns on the radars, they have to be shot down, as it is not known whether there is a combat unit there or not,” he said.
There were two air raid alerts in Kyiv and other parts of the country on March 13, and as of publication on March 14 there had been three.
Ukrainian media reported that many false targets had been detected during these air raids, which are triggered by the launch of Russian warplanes in airspace close to Ukraine, or within the range of the weapons they are capable of carrying.
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