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The latest Ukrainian deep-strike weapon isnt a drone, a cruise missile or a ballistic missile. Its a balloon.

In a recent speech, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu claimed Russian air defences had shot down 37 Ukrainian balloons since Russia widened its war on Ukraine starting in February 2022.

Many of the balloons arrived recently. The Kremlin reported five balloon shoot-downs on April 18 and two more on April 20 one of the latter got as far as Moscow, 275 miles from the border with Ukraine. Another balloon crashed just inside Russian territory in March.

The balloon designs are all pretty similar: an inexpensive envelope, a simple satellite-communications relay, a bit of ballast and a few pounds of explosives. Its possible each balloon costs just a few hundred dollars, likely making the lighter-than-air vehicles the cheapest of Kyivs deep-strike weapons, which also include long-range strike drones, British- and French-made cruise missiles and ballistic missiles from the United States.

The recent barrage of balloons is part of a wider campaign of Ukrainian raids targeting strategic targets hundreds of miles inside Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine: air bases, weapons factories and oil refineries are among the top targets.

The Ukrainians lately have been especially busy with their American-supplied Army Tactical Missile System rockets. The United States reportedly shipped more than a hundred of the precision-guided ATACMS starting in March. Ukraine wasted no time bombarding Russian air bases and air-defence batteries in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian strikes on Russian air bases have escalated to the point that, in recent days, the Kremlin pulled back dozens of its best warplanes, redeploying them from bases near the front line to bases hundreds of miles away beyond the reach of Ukraines cruise and ballistic missiles, although not beyond the reach of the farthest-flying strike drones.

Dont expect the balloons to have such a serious impact on Russian operations, however. Explosive war balloons arent new. Theyve floated across borders in at least three wars in just the last century and never had any meaningful impact.

This is for one major reason: theyre unguided. They just float on the wind until they cant anymore. Japan floated nearly 300 bomb-laden balloons across the Pacific Ocean in 1944 and 45. The only casualties were a pastors wife and five Sunday School students on a fishing trip in Oregon who accidentally triggered the explosive payload of a crashed balloon .

The Japanese balloon bombs were more effective than the crude bombs terror group Islamic State deployed in Syria in 2015. The tiny unguided craft apparently just condoms full of some lighter-than-air gas and carrying miniscule explosive charges apparently inflicted exactly zero damage on Syrian forces.

Balloons can work as wide-area surveillance systems, which is why Russia has drifted a few over Ukraine since 2022 and why China routinely deploys them over the western Pacific Ocean and even sent a few floating over the United States last year.

But surveillance doesnt necessarily require precision. High-resolution cameras and sensitive electronic receivers can collect useful intelligence over thousands of square miles.

An air raid does require precision: missing by just a few yards can make the difference between a successful raid and a failed one. An unguided strike balloon is, at best, a way for one country to compel another country to waste precious air-defence resources trying to shoot them down.

Smart air-defence commanders would simply ignore them. Ukrainian planners might be hoping they dont. Its apparent that one aim of Ukraines widening strike campaign more and more drones, missiles and rockets hitting more and more bases and industrial sites is to force Russia to spread out, and thin out, its radars and surface-to-air missile batteries.

Ukrainian drone strikes against targets within Russia are ... likely increasing pressure on available Russian air-defence assets, the Institute for the Study of War in Washington DC explained.

And for the Ukrainians, that pressure represents an opportunity. Thinner Russian air-defences along the front line means less risk to Ukrainian warplanes operating directly over the battlefield. You cant defend everywhere, retired US Army general Mark Hertling noted.

As long as the Russians are wasting resources shooting down balloons, theyre not devoting those same resources to shooting down Ukrainian assets that actually matter. Ones with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

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Ukraine's balloon-borne bomber blitz: Designed to waste Russian shells and missiles - Yahoo! Voices

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said his troops had taken control of 547 square kilometres (211 square miles) of territory this year in what he called Russia's "new regions," a reference to four Ukrainian regions that Moscow says it has annexed.

Shoigu, in remarks on Friday to senior military commanders, said Ukrainian forces were retreating all along the front line and that Russian troops were breaking what he called a network of Ukrainian strongholds.

"The Ukrainian army units are trying to cling on to individual lines, but under our onslaught they are forced to abandon their positions and retreat," said Shoigu.

"Over the past two weeks, the Russian Armed Forces have liberated the settlements of Novobakhmutivka, Semenivka and Berdychi in the Donetsk People's Republic," he said, referring to the name Russia uses for one of the four annexed regions.

Ukraine's top commander said on Sunday that Kyiv's outnumbered troops had fallen back to new positions west of three villages on the eastern front.

Moscow said in September 2022, seven months after sending troops into Ukraine, that it had incorporated four Ukrainian regions - Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia - into its own sovereign territory despite not fully controlling any of them.

Ukraine said the move was an illegal land grab and has said it plans to evict every Russian soldier from its territory, including from Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Russia controls about 18% of Ukraine - in the east and south - and has been gaining ground since Kyiv's 2023 counter-offensive failed to make any serious inroads against well dug-in Russian troops.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Frances Kerry)

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Russia says it has driven Ukrainian army from 211 square miles of territory this year - Yahoo! Voices

Ukrainian forces took out more than 100 Russian soldiers with an ATACMS missile, per OSINT analysts.

Four ATACMS were used to target the group, one analyst said.

The soldiers would have been out of reach of Ukraine's shorter-range ATACMS missiles.

A Ukrainian ATACMS long-range missile strike killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in an occupied region 50 miles from the front line, according to OSINT and military analysts.

Ukrainian forces targeted a Russian military training area some 50 miles behind the front line in the occupied Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, per an assessment by The Institute for the Study of War.

According to two aerial geolocated videos posted on Wednesday by X user Osinttechnical, an account affiliated with the Centre for Naval Analyses, Ukraine appeared to strike the training area with three US-supplied M39 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

Osinttechnical said at least one of the missiles struck a gathering of more than 100 Russian soldiers, with hundreds of M74 APAM bomblets falling on them.

Open-source geolocation project GeoConfirmed said four ATACMS were used in the attack, with the location being the village of Rohove in eastern Ukraine. One of its volunteers shared footage on X, saying that the four strikes happened within the space of a minute.

Business Insider couldn't independently verify details of the attack.

The reported attack comes after the US secretly sent about 100 Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to Ukraine last month, according to The New York Times.

The US had previously sent ATACMS with a shorter range to Ukraine, but the versions sent recently can travel about 190 miles which puts higher-value targets in Ukraine's crosshairs.

An unnamed senior US official told the Times that Ukrainian soldiers already put them to use to attack a Russian military airfield in Crimea in mid-April.

Ukraine said that strike targeted the Dzhankoi military base in northern Crimea, destroying or critically damaging four S-400 launchers, three radar stations, air-defense equipment, and airspace surveillance equipment.

The longer-range ATACMS could prove crucial for Ukraine, as they can travel about 190 miles and hit higher-value targets in places like Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.

Philip Karber, a military analyst with expertise on Ukraine, told Radio Free Europe this week that the long-range ATACMS have the potential to "basically make Crimea military worthless."

The US sent Ukraine ATACMS with a shorter range last fall, which enabled Ukraine to destroy Russian helicopters and airfields behind the front lines, but not go after more distant targets.

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Ukraine wiped out 100 Russian troops at once in a strike showcasing the range and power of its new US ATACMS - Yahoo! Voices

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Recent statements by Frances president and Britains foreign secretary about the war in Ukraine are dangerous and will deepen international tension around the conflict, the Kremlins spokesman said Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in an interview published Thursday, repeated an earlier comment that he doesnt exclude sending troops to Ukraine. U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron, meanwhile, said during a visit to Kyiv the same day that Ukraine will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia a possibility that some other NATO countries providing weapons have balked at.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov branded Macrons comment a very important and very dangerous statement. Remarks by Macron about possible direct French engagement in the conflict represent a very dangerous trend, he said.

Camerons statement about Ukraines right to use British weapons provided to strike facilities inside Russia is another very dangerous statement, Peskov told reporters.

This is a direct escalation of tensions around the Ukrainian conflict, which potentially may threaten European security, the entire European security architecture, Peskov said.

Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 significantly heightened tension between the Kremlin and NATO countries. The alliance countries have provided much of the military hardware that Kyiv is using to fight Russia, ensuring that the tension has continued to simmer. Russia, in turn, has sought help from China, Iran and North Korea, according to the U.S..

As Russia heaps battlefield pressure on depleted Ukrainian forces and appears poised to launch a major offensive, that antagonism has become sharper.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed Friday that Russian troops had captured more than 500 square kilometers (200 square miles) of territory from Ukrainian forces since the start of the year.

The Russian groups of forces continue to break through the enemys strongholds along the entire line of contact, Shoigu said at a meeting with top military brass.

It was not possible to independently verify claims about the battlefield.

Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that Russian forces have an overwhelming advantage in troops, weapons and ammunition.

Ukraines president and foreign minister pressed Cameron during his visit to accelerate the delivery of his country's promised military aid.

It is important that the weapons included in the U.K. support package announced last week arrive as soon as possible, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the social platform X.

He said armored vehicles, ammunition and missiles of various types were top of the list.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who also met with Cameron, said on X that the focus was on speeding up military aid.

That message was rammed home by the deputy chief of Ukraines military intelligence agency, Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, who said Russia is trying to exploit its current advantage in weapons and manpower and is planning a major offensive this summer.

Our problem is very simple: We have no weapons, Skibitsky was quoted as saying in an interview with The Economist published Friday.

Vital support pledged by Western allies to help Ukraine fend off the Kremlins forces has been delayed by political disagreements in the United States and a lack of manufacturing capacity in Europe. That has opened a door to advances for the bigger and better-equipped Russian army, especially along the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine and its Western partners are in a race against the clock to deploy the new military aid, especially a fresh batch of U.S. support, in coming weeks and prevent Russia taking more ground.

The pressing concern at the moment is keeping the strategic eastern hilltop city of Chasiv Yar out of Russian hands. Capturing the city would offer Russia the opportunity of attacking other key cities deeper inside the Donetsk region and hitting important Ukrainian supply lines.

Chasiv Yar is being battered by Russian artillery, drones and missiles. Glide bombs have also been deployed. They are half-ton bombs fitted with wings and launched from aircraft from behind Russian lines. They demolish buildings and leave huge craters, unnerving local defenders.

Russia used a similar strategy of relentless bombardment to force Ukrainian troops out of Avdiivka in February.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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The Kremlin brands comments on Ukraine by France's Macron and Britain's Cameron as 'dangerous' - Yahoo! Voices

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the Ukraine war with The Economist.

He said France could send troops if requested by Ukraine in response to a Russian breakthrough.

His remarks about French soldiers defending Ukraine are among the most hawkish by a Western leader.

French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed that he'd consider sending French troops to Ukraine and spelled out the conditions in which that could take place.

Speaking to The Economist, Macron described the urgent threat that Russian President Vladimir Putin posed to Europe in the wake of the 2022 Ukraine invasion.

"I'm not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out," Macron said when asked about his earlier comments that NATO troops could be deployed to help defend Ukraine.

"We have undoubtedly been too hesitant by defining the limits of our action to someone who no longer has any and who is the aggressor," he continued.

He said he'd consider sending French troops to Ukraine "if the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request, which is not the case today."

He added that if Russia defeated Ukraine, it would then probably seek to attack another European country.

In recent months, political and military leaders have been issuing increasingly stark warnings about the possible consequences of a Russian victory in Ukraine.

Macron's remarks about sending French troops to defend Ukraine are among the most hawkish by a Western leader.

Ukraine has struggled to prevent Russia from breaking through its defensive lines amid a US aid block. And though the $61 billion aid bill was recently passed, Ukraine is still fighting to hold back intensifying Russian attacks.

While NATO countries have sent money and weapons to help Ukraine, they've avoided a direct confrontation amid fears it could escalate the conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia.

Under Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty, members are pledged to defend each other if attacked.

In response to Macron's earlier remarks, the Kremlin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said deploying NATO troops to Ukraine would lead to war between Russia and the alliance.

"We would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability," Peskov said, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Analysts recently discussed with Business Insider the likelihood of Russia attacking NATO, with the Russian-military expert Ruth Deyermond saying Putin's regime was too weak militarily to risk a direct confrontation with NATO.

In the interview with The Economist, Macron said he was determined to prevent a Russian victory.

"We mustn't rule anything out," he said, "because our objective is that Russia must never be able to win in Ukraine."

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A NATO country says it could join Ukraine's war with Russia if 2 conditions are met - Yahoo! Voices