Ukraine received a fresh shipment of Turkish-made Bakar Bayraktar TB2 armed drones earlier this week, according to a Facebook post from Ukraine\u2019s defense minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNew [drones] have already arrived in Ukraine and are on combat duty,\u201d said Oleksiy Reznikov on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Janes, a defense intelligence and analysis firm, reported<\/a> that rumors of the delivery had previously circulated after Turkish Air Force transports were spotted flying from Ankara to an airport in southeast Poland near the Ukraine border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The drones have been a significant morale-booster for Ukraine throughout the early days of the Russian invasion in addition to their limited tactical successes, explained drone warfare expert Samuel Bendett in a Tuesday interview with Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the invasion, Ukraine officials said<\/a> they had approximately 20 Bayraktar TB2s. The country also had entered deals with Turkey to purchase more and ultimately produce key components for a new, larger Bayraktar drone on Ukrainian soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Stijn Mitzer<\/a>, an open-source intelligence analyst tracking equipment destruction in the war, the TB2s have accounted for 33 Russian vehicle losses<\/a>, including two logistics trains. That\u2019s less than 10% of Russia\u2019s total estimated vehicle losses<\/a> to date, though, per Mitzer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s impossible to independently verify the extent of losses, and officials from each side have wildly varying statistics, but Mitzer documents a unique photo for each vehicle loss, meaning that his totals are likely an undercount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet what Bendett calls the \u201cmythology of the Bayraktar\u201d has persisted because Russia has thus far failed to properly use its air defense systems as designed in their force structure, in addition to the Russian air force\u2019s apparent failure to neutralize Ukraine\u2019s own air force and air defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\t