Open-source intelligence reports suggest a potential Ukrainian “Beaver” drone was behind the recent attack on Moscow, which the Kremlin has blamed on Kyiv.
Ukraine rarely officially declares responsibility for drone strikes on Russian territory, but Ukrainian officials occasionally take to social media to highlight such attacks.
In his evening address on Sunday (July 30, 2023), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not say that Kiev was behind the latest attack on Moscow.
But he said that “the war is gradually returning to Russian territory.”
“And this is ‘an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.’” Zelenskyy told the BBC.
Not much is known about the Beavers drone, but experts have analyzed what they can tell from the footage, which appears to show it was targeting Moscow.
The Beaver drone is generally similar to the Iranian-made Shahed drone.
According to Justin Bronk, a senior researcher at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, this drone is also known as the Geran-2 disposable attack drone, a drone that Russia frequently uses for attacks on Ukraine.
“From the available images and video, the drone used to attack Moscow appears to be of comparable weight and size to the Shahed, although it has a slightly larger wingspan,” he told Newsweek.
The Beaver appears to have a relatively small petrol engine, he added, but is believed to have a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, or about 620 miles.
UK-based drone expert Steve Wright describes the Beaver as a canard aircraft with a small front wing in front of the main wing, giving it a “very distinctive shape”.
“The drone flies very slowly and very steadily, with a clear emphasis on range,” he told Newsweek.
“Similar drones, or at least parts of the Beaver design, have been around for years, although there is no evidence that the Beaver in the form shown over Moscow was used prior to the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022,” said the analyst.
Akshara Parakala, senior aviation analyst at Defense Intelligence Agency Janes, told Newsweek that this particular type of UAV has not been observed in other parts of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict either.
