Russia Builds Drone Corridors Around Kostyantynivka as Advances Slow to 1 Kilometer a Week
Updated
Updated · Forbes · May 19
Russia Builds Drone Corridors Around Kostyantynivka as Advances Slow to 1 Kilometer a Week
3 articles · Updated · Forbes · May 19
Russian forces have set up dispersed forward drone outposts in and around western Kostyantynivka, using small three-to-five-man infiltration teams to carve out "drone corridors" through Ukraine’s drone-patrolled kill zones.
Those corridors are meant to let Russian drones suppress Ukrainian drone teams, artillery and counterattacks long enough for larger assault units to move forward with fewer losses than in direct armored pushes.
Russia still controls only about 10% of Kostyantynivka, and Ukrainian sources say its advance toward the city has slowed to roughly 1 kilometer per week over the past month.
Ukrainian counterattacks near Kostyantynivka and Chasiv Yar, plus strikes on vulnerable resupply runs for Russian drone teams, have limited Moscow’s ability to sustain the corridors and exploit them operationally.
The tactic remains Russia’s clearest path through Ukraine’s kill zones, but lasting gains would require more drones, better interceptor systems and enough protected airspace to move armor against deeper layered defenses.
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