Russia’s New Drone Threat Raises Alarms in Ukraine

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1:51Ben Meiselas:Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Learn more at Farmers.com. Underwritten by farmer's truck or fire insurance exchanges or affiliate. Products not available in every state. Fox News is streaming live on Fox One. When it matters most, you want the truth from the voices you trust. Fox News goes beyond the headlines, bringing you the stories you won't hear anywhere else. Live coverage, sharp analysis, real perspective. At home or on the go, stay connected when it counts. Stream Fox News on Fox One. Download today. all hell is breaking loose as russia is using a new secret weapon in its war in ukraine the garen for jet powered drone is now being used which is so much harder for ukraine to strike down with the anti-drone interceptors i'm going to talk more about that in a moment but let's recap what's taken place in the past 24 hours alone this is a daily occurrence in this catastrophic war while Donald Trump yesterday was saying, Russia's just going it along.

2:54Ukraine is going it along. And Trump said, I'd really like to see Zelensky just do a settlement with Putin. Just make a deal is what Donald Trump said as he was heading to the Tennessee football game where he was booed. So here's what went down in the past 24 hours. About 173 Russian drones launched overnight. We saw multiple strikes in areas like Zepresia. Two women were killed there. In Sumi, two people were killed. In Donetsk, two people were killed. In the Dinprovosk Oblast, we saw a teenage girl and a woman killed and two injured. In Kiev, there were several who were injured as these jet-powered drones featured prominently.

3:39Also in Kiev, there was an additional five injured and two children. In Kharkiv, there was multiple missile strikes, four injured. In Odessa, Russia claimed it hit a cargo vessel with military supplies near the port and a logistics hub. Meanwhile, Ukraine strikes in Russia included the following. In Krasnodar Krai, the Ilsky oil refinery was hit. Fire was reported there. It seems that these were FP1 long-range drones that were used about 400 kilometers from the front. In the occupied Zepresia region, three people were killed in Ukraine strikes per a Moscow-appointed official over there. In the Azov region, a Ukrainian general staff reported a strike at the Azov Optical Mechanical Plant, part of the Tactical Missiles Corporation, which produces components for missiles and related systems.

4:38So this is what we see happening every day in this catastrophic war. war. Now, it should also be noted another major development we saw on the sidelines of the United Nations yesterday, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, meeting with Germany's foreign minister. Take a look right here. It's the first time they met in nearly five years. I'll play the B-roll for you over here. The talks took place apparently at the request of the German side. And you'll recall that in September, drone debris was found near a military air base in Germany. And then in August, drones carrying explosives were discovered near a Ukrainian military transport aircraft in Leipzig over there.

5:27After that, Germany announced the closure of the Russian consulate over there in Germany and Russian house in Berlin. So you see this meeting taking place right here. Let me share with you some of the images and videos that are coming out of the strikes that I just described. Here's what it looks like in Kyiv as the residents there are terrified by these drone strikes. Let's play this clip.

6:10Then you had the Ukrainian strikes in the Luhansk border area over here. We'll show you as the Ukrainian military struck there. Play this clip. You'll see the drones play.

6:39This is what it looks like these Ukrainian FP1 drones, you see how they maneuver you see how fast these drones are going right now. Some images from Kyiv you can see for yourself. Let's play it.

7:03this was released yesterday by the ukraine defense ministry where they talk about how in the past week six strategic play that'd be real fuck six strategic refineries up to 1600 kilometers behind the front were hit hard this is ukraine's answer they write to russian terror a week of strikes on russia's fuel and energy secretary sector here's how we respond every target is a key facility in the aggressors defense industry they write supplying fuel to russian occupying forces i'll just show you the scenes here as well we can just play the b-roll of this as the after the russian strike of the residential building in kiev right there russia hit a starlink support center in kiev i'll play this for you let's play it

8:02and play the b-roll over here this was released by the ukraine military of multiple russian soldiers who are getting hit, killed by drones. You're not going to actually see what happens after the strike takes place, but you can see how these FPV drones and other drones being used by Ukraine. And we're seeing this is one of the main modes of the way this war is being conducted. You know, it was a very well-known Admiral McRaven, who I did a report on. the way he described this catastrophic war and what we're seeing in Russia's war in Ukraine. He goes, it's like World War I's drone.

8:47Ben Meiselas:It's like a World War I trench warfare, but with drones. And so imagine just the mass death and the mass destruction of trench warfare, right? When you'd go out of your trench and then you'd have these machine guns basically just would like mow the people down to try to get into the next trench. In this catastrophic war, it's a version of that, but with drones as the main kind of weapon. And then as a result of the stalemate on the front of the war itself, what now is happening is you're having the strikes of the infrastructure and civilian infrastructure back and forth. And so that's what we're seeing go down.

9:25Ben Meiselas:Meanwhile, Zelensky says the following, Russia plans, this is what Zelensky said yesterday, Russia plans to spend another$12 billion on the production of jet drones and loitering munitions Of course, this applies not only to Ukraine, not only to us. Ukrainian interceptions of jet drones is now at 55%. In September, Russia launched 2 ,730 such drones already. And it's notable that the interception rate of these jet drones, it's only 55 % these jet fuel drones because the older Shahids, Ukraine had about a 90, 95 % rate of intercepting with the anti-drone interceptors. But these new drones, the secret weapons that Russia has developed, and I will talk about that in a moment, the interception rate's only 55%.

10:21Ben Meiselas:And so it's really bad heading into the winter. And I'll explain why right now as well. Because you have Russia stockpiling its ballistic missiles and Zelensky in Ukraine does not have the ballistic missile interceptors, the Patriots or the THAADs. Trump promised an interceptor license, never gave the interceptor license. Trump ran out of weapons in the catastrophic war in Iran. Even if we had interceptors, we probably wouldn't give it to Ukraine because Trump's a Putin bootlicker. But regardless, Zelensky does not have the critical interceptors for the ballistics. But now, in addition to not, and you need the interceptors to stop the ballistics, but Zelensky previously was able to strike down the Shahid drones, which were made by Iran for Russia, but they couldn't get the ballistics.

11:07Ben Meiselas:But now, not only does Russia have the ballistics that are striking basically with impunity, but also these new jet-powered drones that Russia is using. Zelensky only has about a 55 % rate of interception, which is probably overstating it if I'm being 100 % honest. From what I'm observing, I think the interception rate's probably closer to 35 % to 40%, perhaps even less. Also, Zelensky put out the following message. Obviously, the Russians are not preparing to stop the war, at least not now. Putin constantly finds some excuse not to meet, not to do a trilateral format, not to talk, not to end and stop these killings.

11:48Ben Meiselas:He has had the same thing for years and all our partners feel it. He's looking for excuses to wage war. It sounds the same in our recent meeting with Trump shows this. And then he goes on to talk about the international coalition. Now that's being built. This is incredibly important journalism that I want to share with you right here. It's from Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty. And what they literally do is they deconstruct one of these new jet-powered drones called the Garen 4. And they deconstruct it and uncover what makes this jet-powered drone, this unmanned aerial vehicle UAV, faster, harder to intercept, and capable of operating deep inside Ukraine from its turbo jet engine and its other component parts.

12:41Ben Meiselas:Now, a few points I want to make here, and I want to show you this because this is incredible, incredible journalism. Point number one, Radio Free Europe. That was trying to be dismantled by the Trump regime, right? And so USAGM, the US Agency for Global Media, remember that for a period of time that was led by Kerry Lake, the MAGA Republican extremists from Arizona. And do you remember how back in March of 2025, the Trump regime tried to just dismantle and destroy Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty's federal grants, and he signed an executive order destroying it. But then a court ultimately ruled that that was unlawful and that the funds had to go to Radio Free Europe.

13:27Ben Meiselas:But he'd be like, why did Trump hate Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty? Why were they targeting that? because of reports like this. This should all kind of bring a lot of our reporting here on the Midas Touch Network together. And you go, oh, that's why they were trying to get rid of this type of reporting. Now, I want to make another point though, because as you watch Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty's report on the Garen 4 Russian jet-powered drone, the secret weapon, I think it's important to note, and I'll just highlight it here, that most of the components come from China. The other components come from a lot of U.S.

14:07Ben Meiselas:semiconductor companies. And I did a report, you may remember, about two months ago where I interviewed the law firm that's suing a lot of these semiconductor companies here for not providing the appropriate safeguards on their supply chain that allows their chips, their semiconductors, to eventually find their way to Russia. And so Russia's using primarily Russian parts with also American semiconductors and also some other parts as well. And they're making these new Garen-4 drones that are incredibly lethal. I want you to watch this segment right here. Let me know what you think, but I want you to make sure you watch this full segment over here as you see what's going on.

14:53Ben Meiselas:And by the way, we'll call, of course, Donald Trump invites Xi Jinping Ping over to the White House, rolls out the red carpet for him. We also know that Xi was providing Iran with information and satellite footage about U.S. bases there in retaliation to the U.S. invasion of Iran. And then we also now know that Xi's providing the parts to Russia. It's not shocking. They're allies. They're very publicly allies with each other. They say that they're allies with each other. While Trump has isolated and alienated our allies, there's allies in the rest of the world who are forging their own relationships.

15:27Ben Meiselas:So I want you to watch this right here as Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty takes apart the Russian Garen 4. Here, play this clip.

15:40This is Russia's Garen 4, a new, faster version of the attack drone that is proving harder for Ukrainian air defenses to intercept.

15:53We were given a rare opportunity to literally take this surviving drone apart and find out what makes it so much faster, more maneuverable and more accurate.

16:07The first part we uncover is the turbojet engine. It is one of the GERAN 4's most significant upgrades, allowing the drone to fly at altitudes of up to 8 kilometers. That's twice as high as the older propeller-powered drones. According to specialists, drones equipped with this type of engine have already flown from Russia's occupied Crimea to Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine, a distance of more than 700 kilometers. This engine allows it to fly at speeds of up to 450 to 500 kilometers per hour over Ukrainian territory, sometimes even faster. It flies fast and high, which is why it is still difficult to intercept.

16:49Who makes this engine? China. But we have investigated cases where these engines were assembled in Russia using Chinese components.

17:04Next comes the camera. It has several modes, daylight, night vision and infrared. The camera offers 10 times optical zoom and up to 32 times digital zoom, allowing the drone operator to view terrain from an altitude of 8 kilometers. If there is a relay station and it is connected to the network, an operator sitting in an automated workstation somewhere in Bryansk, Oriol or Crimea can control the drone and guide it to its target.

17:39Once the drone is inside Ukraine, regular cellular SIM cards can help keep it connected. We also found two GSM modems inside this drone. Using SIM cards, they can transmit the GetOnForce location over mobile networks, allowing the operator to track it in real time. This is where the SIM card goes. Drone specialists say they have found SIM cards from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and even some European Union countries in Geraint-4 drones. And the deeper we go inside the drone, the more foreign-made components we find. We've just pulled out a Chinese mesh modem. It's responsible, among other things, for radio and video communications.

18:23Essentially, this device allows the drone operator to see the video feed from the Geraint-4 almost in real time. from this drone. The modem has a range of up to 300 kilometers and can also act as a signal relay. That means several drones flying near each other can relay and strengthen the signal, making it possible to control them over much greater distances. But this Russian drone contains more than just Chinese components. Despite international sanctions, a significant portion of its components are still coming from abroad, highlighting gaps in global export control enforcement. We've just opened up the drone's onboard computer, and these circuit boards contain components made by a U.S.

19:09company. The markings on this component are partly worn off, but you can still see the manufacturer, Texas Instruments.

19:23According to the specialists, what is actually Russian-made here mainly the drone's body and its assembly. This particular drone was manufactured and assembled at Alabuga, a major Russian drone production site. According to Ukraine's military intelligence, Russia is now producing around 3 ,000 Giran-4 and Giran-5 drones a month at Alabuga and other facilities across Russia.

19:47Ben Meiselas:I told you that was an incredibly powerful piece of reporting. And meanwhile, yesterday, before Donald Trump was going to the Tennessee game where he was booed, Donald Trump said the following about Ukraine. Play this clip. And then when Donald Trump was asked by a reporter, did you talk to Zelensky about Patriot missiles? Trump went on to say, I spoke to him. He's going along and Putin's going along. Here, play this clip.

20:36Ben Meiselas:What do you mean they're going along? What the hell does that even mean? They're going along? Again, it seems what the going along is, is Trump Trump is going along to try to buy time for Putin as Putin develops things like the Garenfor, stockpiles his ballistic missiles, and as Ukraine gets more and more vulnerable. And it seems like what Trump means ultimately about I want Zelensky to settle is this is going to be a very dark winter for Ukraine, that Trump has done everything he can, in my opinion, to strip Ukraine of a lot of the defense capabilities it needed. Russia, on the other hand, has been able to gather a lot of its weapons heading into this winter.

21:18Ben Meiselas:And I think when you hear about what may be in store for the rest of this winter, what may have taken place at that meeting between Russia and Germany, because no one really knows what was discussed. There was no real public statements about what happened. I think that Europe is saying, you know what, it seems that Russia is going to be. I know there's an aspect of it, which is the hybrid warfare threat against Europe. I think there's something deeper going on, though. I think for Europe, what they see is Putin's going to be in a very strong position heading into this winter, potentially, given the amount of weapons that have been assembled and given Trump not giving Zelensky the interceptors.

22:00Ben Meiselas:So I think Europe is preparing for a NATO without the U.S. and Europe going to help Zelensky and make sure that if things escalate, that Europe may have to step in with Zelensky as a result of Russia's increasing escalation and its ability to strike more and more and more as we head into the winter without these drones being intercepted and without the ballistics. So I think it's actually perhaps even more grim than what Europe is preparing for than even just the hybrid warfare within Europe or Russia maybe attacking Estonia here or there. I think Europe is preparing for what may happen if Zelensky runs out of defenses and Russia starts using all of these ballistics that's stockpiled and the more Garen Fours and then what happens next.

23:01Ben Meiselas:And I think Zelensky is preparing by doing everything he can to try to go on the offense. Sometimes the best defense is going on the offense and striking with these long range drones to hit these Russian facilities to try to make people in Russia also feel the pain that they're not immune to this war. So I think that's what's going on. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching, everybody. Before you go, our book, WTF America, is available for pre-order now. It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way back. To pre-order, scan the QR code or click the link in the description.

23:42Let's do this.