Some Ukrainian forces are "suffering" from Russia's use of night-vision drones, a Ukrainian soldier said.
An aerial scout from Ukraine's 58th Separate Brigade told the Kyiv Post that Russia was actively using these types of first-person-view (FPV) drones in the direction of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
"They brought night FPV to our direction, they are actively using it. And they increased the flight range, now we are suffering a lot from this," he said.
The drones have both light-sensitive cameras, which can see in the dark with minimal lighting, and the more dangerous thermal cameras, per the outlet.
These types of drones pose problems for Ukrainian forces, as they often move personnel and equipment in the dark to avoid attacks.
Russia had previously been reported to have added thermal-imaging cameras to some drones, per Forbes.
While these cameras have lower resolutions compared to standard video cameras, they are a potentially game-changing tool for Russian forces, per the report.
Ukraine also has the technology to produce drones with thermal-imaging cameras, but their high price means they haven't been a priority.
"Ukrainian manufacturers also have all these technologies and can produce FPV drones with thermal imaging cameras, but the main problem is the price," a spokesperson for the volunteer group Escadrone, a major producer of FPV drones for Ukraine, told Forbes.
"If a regular FPV drone costs $500, then the same drone with a thermal imaging camera will cost about $2,500," they added.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine shared a video on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this week, claiming to show its 59th Motorized Brigade using night-vision drones to strike two Russian infantry fighting vehicles.
"Our night-vision drones prevail over darkness," the department wrote in the post.
"Two Russian IFVs decided that it was safe to move at night. However, the occupiers were fatally mistaken," it added.
It is not clear whether Russia has begun mass-producing drones with night vision cameras.
But one commander of a Ukrainian drone attack unit told the Kyiv Post that Russia likely had the capabilities to produce such drones at an "industrial level."
