Russian Unit's Best Drone Pilot, Ordered To Attack As Infantry, Is Killed

This sort of profligate waste of talent by indifferent Russian officers is a big part of the reason why Russia has failed to overcome the Ukrainians. JL

David Axe reports in Forbes:

 One of the Russian army’s most experienced drone operators, Dmitry Lysakovsky, on Friday, went missing during an infantry assault on the village of Lysivka, four miles east of the Ukrainian stronghold of Pokrovsk. He carried a rifle—fighting, and reportedly dying, as a regular infantryman.  Lysakovsky had voluntarily formed a long-range drone reconnaissance team inside the 87th Regiment. (But) a new officer, Igor Puzyk, took command of the regiment and reportedly disbanded the drone team and reassigned the drone operators to infantry platoons.

Drones might be unmanned, but they still have pilots—on the ground. And a drone is only effective as its pilot is skilled.

 

That’s why the Ukrainian military recently established a separate branch of the armed forces to oversee independent drone units. The separate drone forces “are now proving their effectiveness in various parts of the front line,” Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top commander, told CNN.

There’s no separate drone branch in the Russian armed forces. And that may have been a factor in the recent demise of one of the Russian army’s most experienced drone operators: Dmitry Lysakovsky.

On Friday, Lysakovsky reportedly went missing during an infantry assault on the village of Lysivka, four miles east of the Ukrainian stronghold of Pokrovsk in one of the most dangerous sectors of the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Lysakovsky didn’t participate in the failed assault on Lysivka as a drone operator. Instead, he carried a rifle—fighting, and reportedly dying, as a regular infantryman. And he sensed the end was nigh. “There’s a high chance that I won’t return,” Lysakovsky said in a video he recorded right before the attack.

If it seems odd that the Russia military is struggling to match the Ukrainian military drone-for-drone despite the Russian force being much bigger and overall better-equipped, consider the human operators behind every successful drone sortie. Ukraine takes care of its drone operators—not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because survival translates into greater experience, which translates into greater skill.

Not for nothing, Ukrainian first-person-view drone operators have recently begun striking Russian surveillance drones in mid-air—an incredibly difficult kind of engagement, given the situational awareness and precision required. Mid-air drone strikes are only possible because the attacking operators are extremely skilled.

 

Russian air-to-air drone kills are much less common. A lower overall level of operator skill is surely a factor. And the wastage of experienced operators such as Lysakovsky might help to explain that skill erosion.

Lysakovsky originally fought for the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic before Russia subsumed the DPR’s armed forces early in the current wider war. At the time of his reported death, he was part of the 87th Rifle Regiment, deployed along the axis between Avdiivka and Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

According to Russian sources translated by the Estonian analyst WarTranslated, Lysakovsky had voluntarily formed a long-range drone reconnaissance team inside the 87th Regiment and was responsible for locating a significant number of Ukrainian vehicles, reportedly including at least one precious High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System wheeled launcher.

Lysakovsky’s reputation for effectiveness didn’t save him when a new officer, Igor Puzyk, took command of the regiment. Puzyk reportedly disbanded the drone team and reassigned the drone operators to infantry platoons.

 

In his final video, Lysakovsky not only accused Puzyk of incompetence—he also accused the officer of corruption and treason, even stating Puzyk was “influenced” by a Russian officer who Lysakovsky claimed was passing intelligence to Western officials.

Lysakovsky’s claims are difficult to prove. But there’s no denying it was a waste of Lysakovsky’s specialized skills to send him into battle with a rifle. Russian troops should mourn Lysakovsky’s wasteful death. But Ukrainian troops should celebrate it. The more experienced drone operators Russia wastes, the less effective its drones will be.

In that way, the Russians are unwittingly assisting the Ukrainians in one of their main modernization efforts as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 30th month. “We are constantly working on improving [our drones],” Ukrainian commander-in-chief Syrskyi said, “increasing their efficiency, improving the control system, ways and methods of usage. We are trying to maximize our technical superiority over the enemy to offset their superiority in terms of numbers.”

A big part of this technical superiority is operator superiority—something at least one Russian officer failed to appreciate when he sent his best drone operator to die as an infantryman.