{"id":1410781,"date":"2026-07-18T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/?p=1410781"},"modified":"2026-07-18T12:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T09:42:11","slug":"russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia is changing the way it employs Shahed-type attack drones, increasingly relying on individually controlled low-altitude strikes instead of large-scale swarm attacks, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov,\u00a0UATV English<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media<\/a>, Beskrestnov said Russian forces are increasingly abandoning the tactic of launching mass drone barrages in favor of more complex, manually controlled attacks designed to evade Ukrainian air defenses.<\/p>\n

He published a video showing what he said was a Shahed drone descending to an altitude of just 22 meters during its attack run.<\/p>\n

“The Shahed descended to an altitude of 22 meters to strike its target. The idea was to avoid detection by our radar systems and interceptor drones. But our guys handled it,” Beskrestnov wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the adviser, the low-altitude flight profile is intended to reduce the drone’s visibility to Ukrainian radar systems and complicate interception.<\/p>\n

Beskrestnov warned that the evolving Russian tactics require Ukraine to rapidly adapt its countermeasures as Moscow continues to modify the way it employs long-range attack drones.<\/p>\n

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently appointed Beskrestnov, widely known by his call sign “Flash,” as a freelance adviser on the development of defense technologies.<\/p>\n

Read Also: EU Calls on Russia to Accept Responsibility for Downing of Flight MH17<\/a>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia is changing the way it employs Shahed-type attack drones, increasingly relying …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":1410783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,49,36418,36415],"tags":[76,78,36961],"sources":[],"class_list":["post-1410781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-en","category-11473-news-en-2","category-11473-news-en","tag-glavnoe-en","tag-homepage-en","tag-russian-aggression"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRussia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks - Freedom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks - Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russia is changing the way it employs Shahed-type attack drones, increasingly relying ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-18T11:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9\"},\"headline\":\"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-18T11:03:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":217,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435\",\"\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)\",\"Russian aggression\"],\"articleSection\":[\"\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438\",\"News\",\"Economics\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/\",\"name\":\"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks - Freedom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-18T11:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg\",\"width\":820,\"height\":473,\"caption\":\"Photo: gettyimages.com\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom\",\"description\":\"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9\",\"name\":\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\"},\"description\":\"+380\u00a095\u00a0790\u00a05215\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uatv.ua\\\/en\\\/author\\\/a-shramchenko\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks - Freedom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks - Freedom","og_description":"Russia is changing the way it employs Shahed-type attack drones, increasingly relying ...","og_url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/","og_site_name":"Freedom","article_published_time":"2026-07-18T11:03:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg","width":820,"height":473,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/"},"author":{"name":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9"},"headline":"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks","datePublished":"2026-07-18T11:03:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/"},"wordCount":217,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg","keywords":["\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0435","\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)","Russian aggression"],"articleSection":["\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438","News","Economics","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/","name":"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks - Freedom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-18T11:03:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/03-23-820x473-1.jpg","width":820,"height":473,"caption":"Photo: gettyimages.com"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-shifts-shahed-drone-tactics-to-low-altitude-manually-controlled-attacks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Russia Shifts Shahed Drone Tactics to Low-Altitude, Manually Controlled Attacks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/","name":"Freedom","description":"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9","name":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e"},"description":"+380\u00a095\u00a0790\u00a05215","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/author\/a-shramchenko\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1410781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1410784,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410781\/revisions\/1410784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1410783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1410781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1410781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1410781"},{"taxonomy":"sources","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sources?post=1410781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}