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FPV drone repurposed to hunt Russian recon drones worked so well that Ukraine turned it into new purpose-built interceptor

12 août 2026 à 12:16

A TAF Kolibri-i10 interceptor. Source: TAF Industries

Ukraine has approved a new domestic interceptor and put it on the shelf for units to buy. Ukraine's Defense Ministry has codified the high-speed TAF Kolibri-i10 interceptor from TAF Industries, the company announced.

The approval adds one more weapon to Ukraine's fast-scaling interceptor arsenal and its state procurement pipeline. Ukraine now fields drone-hunters from dozens of makers to counter Russia's massed drone attacks. Units can order it directly through the state marketplace, the same DOT-Chain and Brave1 Market system that has turned battlefield-proven drones into off-the-shelf purchases.

The interceptor grew out of combat use

The Kolibri-i10 came from an improvised solution that worked. The idea grew from using the FPV drone Kolibri 10 to intercept Russian fixed-wing drones, and combat experience showed the approach was so effective that TAF built a new, specialized interceptor rather than modifying the existing model.

Its job is hunting Russian reconnaissance and strike drones. The Kolibri-i10 is designed to destroy Molniya, Orlan, and Zala drones, preventing attacks on Ukrainian positions and covering operations and rear-area sites.

"Field tests have already confirmed the effectiveness of this interceptor, so we have already begun scaling it," CEO Volodymyr Zinovskyi said.

The specs and the jam-resistance

The interceptor was rebuilt for speed and durability. It has a stronger frame, more powerful motors, faster propellers, and improved aerodynamics, reaching over 200 kilometers per hour, a range of up to 25 kilometers, more than 20 minutes aloft, and an altitude of up to 3,000 meters.

It is built to work under jamming. Manual control gives the operator full command at critical moments; digital day-and-night cameras enable operation in varied conditions. MilELRS firmware ensures stable operation in the presence of active electronic warfare. That jam-resistance is a recurring requirement for Ukrainian interceptors, since signal-dependent ones fail against the electronic warfare saturating the front.

The drone is available to order on Brave1 Market, priced at about $760 with a day camera and $1,550 with a night camera.

  • ✇Euromaidan Press
  • Newer drones haven’t dethroned the FPV, and Russia fears our bomber drones, Ukrainian commander says
    Ukraine's first-person-view (FPV) drones are not being displaced by newer unmanned systems, a Ukrainian officer told Ukrinform. They remain a central tool for precision strikes, while Ukrainian forces claim a separate advantage in larger bomber drones. Unmanned systems have become a defining weapon of Russia's war against Ukraine, and both sides race to out-innovate each other, a contest in which a cheap UAV can down a platform costing dozens of times more. FPVs re
     

Newer drones haven’t dethroned the FPV, and Russia fears our bomber drones, Ukrainian commander says

12 août 2026 à 10:16

A Ukrainian soldier with a drone on the frontline. Photo: General Staff via Facebook

Ukraine's first-person-view (FPV) drones are not being displaced by newer unmanned systems, a Ukrainian officer told Ukrinform. They remain a central tool for precision strikes, while Ukrainian forces claim a separate advantage in larger bomber drones.

Unmanned systems have become a defining weapon of Russia's war against Ukraine, and both sides race to out-innovate each other, a contest in which a cheap UAV can down a platform costing dozens of times more.

FPVs remain central

"Since FPVs appeared in service, they have become a leading means of precision engagement. This trend will continue," said Captain Anton Bobrovskyi, who commands a company training unmanned-systems specialists at the 199th Training Center of the Air Assault Forces.

Bobrovskyi conceded that Russia also uses drones effectively and that Ukraine learns from it, but said Ukraine keeps a lead in one category: bomber drones.

The Russian Sokol-I anti-drone UAV. Source: The 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade
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Ukraine's bomber-drone advantage

Russian forces fear Ukrainian bomber drones, according to Bobrovskyi. He said Ukraine outmatches Russia many times over in such systems, and that Russian troops who encounter one often do not know what to do with it.

The distinction matters because bomber drones work differently from single-use FPVs. Rather than flying into a target and exploding, larger bomber drones carry and release munitions, then fly on. Euromaidan Press has documented the growing role of these systems, including reusable platforms capable of returning to base after dropping their payloads. Developers have also adapted them to fly through Russian electronic warfare, with upgraded Vampire drones built to resist jamming.

sea drones jet neptune missiles hit one russian port single night · post fire burns novorossiysk early hours 12 2026 пожежа у новоросійську ніч проти серпня фото exilenova+ ukraine news
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Sea drones, jet drones, and Neptune missiles hit one Russian port in a single night

Bobrovskyi said Ukraine's advantage does not mean Russia lacks comparable technology. Instead, he argued that Ukrainian forces and society initiated many of the current battlefield drone trends and have kept the initiative in using them.

Each new drone class draws a countermeasure, so the side that keeps iterating fastest holds the battlefield initiative. How long Ukraine's bomber-drone edge lasts will depend on its ability to keep protecting and upgrading those platforms.

  • ✇Euromaidan Press
  • Sea drones, jet drones, and Neptune missiles hit one Russian port in a single night
    On 12 August 2026, Ukraine targeted Russia's main Black Sea naval base and oil terminal at Novorossiysk overnight. Fires broke out at the port's oil and fleet facilities, two of Russia's largest grain terminals stopped work, and debris damaged homes across the city, according to Ukrainian monitoring channels and local Russian authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the operation hours later. Russia's southern coast is where much of the war is paid
     

Sea drones, jet drones, and Neptune missiles hit one Russian port in a single night

12 août 2026 à 06:57

sea drones jet neptune missiles hit one russian port single night · post fire burns novorossiysk early hours 12 2026 пожежа у новоросійську ніч проти серпня фото exilenova+ ukraine news

On 12 August 2026, Ukraine targeted Russia's main Black Sea naval base and oil terminal at Novorossiysk overnight. Fires broke out at the port's oil and fleet facilities, two of Russia's largest grain terminals stopped work, and debris damaged homes across the city, according to Ukrainian monitoring channels and local Russian authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the operation hours later.

Russia's southern coast is where much of the war is paid for, the loading point for the oil revenue and grain exports that keep the invasion running, and it now sits within reach of Kyiv's long-range weapons.

Kyiv calls it a "unique operation" on the fleet's last big base

Zelenskyy said Ukraine's Defense Forces hit the Novorossiysk naval base overnight on 12 August. The port city is situated more than 350 kilometers from the front line on Russia's eastern Black Sea coast. The Ukrainian president described the assault as a unique operation against the last main outpost of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

"Our Palianytsia jet drones, Neptune missiles, and naval uncrewed systems precisely struck the designated targets," he said, adding that hits were confirmed on air-defense positions, piers, and seaport infrastructure.

Fires at the Sheskharis oil terminal and the naval harbor

Ukrainian drones hit the oil terminal and the naval base, the Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi reported. Its analysis of NASA satellite fire data placed blazes at the Sheskharis complex, where crude loads onto tankers, and near the naval base and fuel-storage tanks.

sea drones jet neptune missiles hit one russian port single night · post nasa firms shows fires detected around novorossiysk 12 2026 ukraine news ukrainian reports
A NASA FIRMS map shows fires detected in and around Novorossiysk on 12 August 2026. Map: NASA FIRMS

Sheskharis is the endpoint of Transneft's main pipelines and a key export point for Russian crude on the Black Sea. Novorossiysk ships 600,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil a day.

The Ukrainian monitoring channel Krymsky Veter said fires broke out near the Sheskharis pier and the military harbor where Black Sea Fleet ships and submarines dock. Russia moved vessels to Novorossiysk after Ukrainian strikes pushed the fleet out of occupied Crimea.

Two grain terminals stop at the world's top wheat exporter

Novorossiysk's two largest grain-handling terminals halted work after the strikes, Reuters reported, citing four industry sources. The world's top wheat seller, Russia sends most of its exports out through Black Sea ports.

The Novorossiysk grain terminal, which can move 8.5 million tons a year, halted work as owner Demetra Holding assessed the damage. NKHP, a terminal handling 7.1 million tons a year, also stopped, its main owner OZK said, adding that no one was hurt. The Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+ described NKHP, Russia's largest deepwater grain terminal, as one of the sites hit.

novorossiysk

The strikes extend Ukraine's effort to deny Russia the grain and oil revenue that funds the war, a mirror of Russia's own summer campaign against Ukraine's ports: as Moscow strikes Odesa's terminals to choke Ukrainian exports, Kyiv works to shut Russia's own.

A few more videos from Novorossiysk this morning pic.twitter.com/r4zASGtZNc

— Exilenova+ (@Exilenova_plus) August 12, 2026

Russia says its own drone debris damaged homes and killed two

Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev claimed several hundred drones attacked the region overnight and that falling debris struck 21 residential buildings and four enterprises in Novorossiysk. He claimed two people were killed, including an eight-year-old child, and 13 wounded across the krai, with about 90 residents moved to temporary shelters.

sea drones jet neptune missiles hit one russian port single night · post smoke rises over novorossiysk after ukrainian strike black 12 2026 video exilenova+ удар по новоросійську серпня року
Smoke rises over Novorossiysk after a Ukrainian strike on the Russian Black Sea port, 12 August 2026. Screenshot from a video: Exilenova+

Novorossiysk Mayor Andrei Kravchenko claimed debris hit six residential buildings, a commercial building, and a construction site, and that there were casualties.

The Russian news Telegram channel Astra reported that a café burned on Sukhumskoye Shosse, across the road from the entrance to the Novorossiysk naval base. Astra also found that a strike damaged School No. 15 near the fleet's ship berths.

Part of a widening summer campaign

The strike fits a broader Ukrainian effort this summer to carry the war onto Russian soil and drain the Kremlin's ability to fight. A day earlier, Ukrainian drones set a Wildberries logistics complex ablaze near Voronezh and hit an oil refinery in Orsk. Overnight on 10 August, drones struck a petrochemical plant in Tobolsk and a refinery in Tatarstan.

  • ✇Euromaidan Press
  • A bomb-laden drone hit a Ukrainian An-124 in Germany, then lay unnoticed for hours
    Newly analyzed airport camera footage shows a quadcopter drone loaded with Semtex explosive flew straight at a parked Ukrainian An-124 Ruslan cargo aircraft and struck its wing at Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany on the evening of 4 August, the media outlet Die Zeit reported on 10 August. The device bounced off the wing, fell to the ground, and failed to detonate. The drone attacked the aircraft at around 19:30 local time, the media outlet reports. Russia's hybrid a
     

A bomb-laden drone hit a Ukrainian An-124 in Germany, then lay unnoticed for hours

12 août 2026 à 04:29

Ukrainian An-124 at Leipzig Airport in Germany. August 5 August, 2026. Photo: screenshot from Bild video

Newly analyzed airport camera footage shows a quadcopter drone loaded with Semtex explosive flew straight at a parked Ukrainian An-124 Ruslan cargo aircraft and struck its wing at Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany on the evening of 4 August, the media outlet Die Zeit reported on 10 August. The device bounced off the wing, fell to the ground, and failed to detonate. The drone attacked the aircraft at around 19:30 local time, the media outlet reports.

Russia's hybrid attacks are increasingly moving from the information domain into the physical one, including on the territory of other countries. This incident makes sabotage on NATO member states' territory potentially more dangerous if suspicion of Russian involvement is confirmed.

Footage contradicts the warning-shot theory

The drone struck the wing near the fuel tanks, then bounced off the aircraft's surface and fell to the ground. The explosive device also ended up on the ground and did not detonate. The device contained Semtex plastic explosive. Approximately four hours later, a tourist bus driver accidentally noticed it lying on the ground, put his foot on it, and reported the find to airport security.

Video analysis contradicts the earlier theory that the incident may have been intended only as a warning. The nature of the attack indicates an attempt to cause actual damage.

Drone found near a Ukrainian An-124 aircraft in Leipzig, Germany, on 5 August, 2026. Photo: screenshot from Bild video
Drone found near a Ukrainian An-124 aircraft in Leipzig, Germany, on 5 August, 2026. Photo: screenshot from Bild video

Investigators examining foreign state involvement

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested that a state actor may have been behind the explosive-laden drone found at the airport. On 7 August, Germany's National Security Council convened under Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Earlier, the United States assessed that the drone discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany overnight into 5 August belonged to Russian intelligence, a US Department of Defense official in Europe told CNN.

The cargo aboard the Ukrainian aircraft targeted in the sabotage attempt consisted of military equipment and ammunition that had arrived in Germany from France and was being prepared for further transportation, Süddeutsche Zeitung stated, citing a confidential German police report. However, Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior denied this claim, according to dpa.

The An-124 Ruslan, struck by the drone, is operated by the Ukrainian company Antonov Airlines. After Russian forces destroyed its main base in Hostomel in 2022, the company has been using Leipzig/Halle airport as a temporary base for its aircraft.

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