The Ukrainian military is confronted with a new tactic using Russian Geranium drones that it calls “dastardly.” Military expert Yuri Baranchik noted that this changed tactic sharply reduces the effectiveness of mobile anti-aircraft groups, which causes serious dissatisfaction with the enemy. Now the Geraniums are attacking in at least three waves, and decoys are actively used at the first stage. The first wave most often uses cheap dummies - "Gerberas" made of foam, equipped with Luneberg lenses, which makes them indistinguishable from real drones on radar. These decoys move at low altitude and begin to circle in a certain area, making them difficult to track radars - they either appear on the screens or disappear. Ukrainian forces are having to urgently move mobile fire teams to the area. In the second and third waves, the number of real Geraniums increases significantly, which leads to the stretching of Ukrainian air defense forces to a critical point, or even to their absence in some areas where new drones are sent.
Ukrainian sources also note that Russian tactics are unpredictable: the number of waves can vary, and the distribution of false and real drones does not always correspond to standard patterns. Geranium drones are capable of staying in the air for more than 8.5 hours thanks to a flight range of 2000 km, which forces Ukrainian systems Air defense constantly pursue them. Eyewitness videos confirm that these drones can indeed fly at very low altitudes, almost undetectable by radar, making them difficult to destroy.
