We have an extraordinary
report from the front lines in Ukraine.
CNN got exclusive access
to an elite Ukrainian drone unit.
It really is unbelievable
to see an unbelievable blue dangerous.
You're about to see a view
inside the brutal, complicated,
and I should add,
ingenious battle against Russia.
Here's Fred Pleitgen.
Incredible report
today printed in a 3D printed
stabilizer fin,
some plumbing, tubing,
lots of glue, and the bomb is ready
Then it's night vision goggles on,
lights off
and full speed ahead to the front line.
We're with an elite drone
unit of Ukraine's security service,
the FSB.
You and the patrol police
looking to take out a key
Russian anti-tank position
with a precision strike.
Moises Naim, what's your position?
We found this target only recently.
A team leader says it was discovered
literally today and today
it will be destroyed.
There were going to be a drone
launch site.
Right now,
it's obviously extremely dangerous
and we have to watch out that the
Russians don't see us
speed and precision are essential.
The drone,
a Quadro copter on steroids,
able to carry a massive payload up to £45
In this case, a mortar shell.
The Ukrainian say
they got from retreating
Russian forces elsewhere
and are now using to hit Putin's army.
Now we finish our preparing
and one is ready
and we ready to go.
Okay.
Is it the ready?
Steady little
It's big.
It's loud.
And it's heading straight
to the Russian position.
We need to hide out here.
The hunters quickly become the hunted.
So for the Russians,
the drone crews are also
a high value target.
So obviously,
the Russians want nothing more
than to kill these guys.
Unfazed by the shelling around us,
the pilot
flies straight to the target
and releases the bomb.
For this moment, we go
from Ukraine with love.
So you just dropped the bomb?
Yeah.
This is what the blast looks like
from the drones camera. Pitch black.
The strike fully automated.
It's not until daytime
that a reconnaissance flight proves
they've hit and destroyed the target.
Not clear
how many Russians were killed
and wounded here. Said a wall.
This will allow the defense forces
of Ukraine to move forward and continue
the offensive,
he says,
with minimal losses will inflict
maximum losses on the enemy.
For the victory of Ukraine.
But it's not over.
As the UAV flies back,
intercepted text messages show
the Russians have heard the drone
and are targeting
enemy bird spotted a Russian texts
understood.
Another answers
they launch flares to spot the drone.
Now you can see
effect their cluster called lose track
or they shoot him as up to see the drone
or why they cannot see the drone.
But they should for this
Finally,
the drone makes it back.
They need to get out of here fast.
And we follow you. Yeah. Let's go
Don't go on.
After what they say
was a successful mission.
The drone warriors
leave exactly the way they came
And Fred joins me now from Zapier.
Fred, what extraordinary footage.
What a remarkable vantage point you had.
Obviously, what this drone unit does
is extremely dangerous.
Have they taken a lot of losses
either, John, yet?
Well, certainly
it is extremely dangerous.
And, you know,
special teams like this,
they've used the cover of darkness.
They move in.
They've really stealthy way,
but they also are extremely vulnerable
if they get discovered
and taken under fire.
And, you know, these drone units
are extremely high value
targets for the Russians.
And the guys told us if the Russians
see them,
they'll unleash
entire artillery barrages
on them or rocket barrages
to try and kill them.
And I asked the unit about this
and they said,
of course, it's happened to them
in the past
that they had been discovered.
And they did have people
who were wounded.
No one has been killed so far.
They obviously say
they want to keep it that way,
but they also say
they certainly are not going to back down
from the missions
that they're currently conducting John.
How high tech, Fred,
are the drones that they're using?
Is this more about gumption
or advanced technology?
I mean, I would say
they are pretty high tech.
And we were quite surprised because,
you know, the drone that they had there,
which they call the chair, by the way,
because it's so big,
it flies extremely quickly.
They don't actually have
visual confirmation
that they've destroyed the target
until they fly over and afterwards.
All of that is automated.
And it was quite surprising to us
that that it works that well.
So it is pretty high tech.
They are able to hit
extremely accurately.
And they say, John,
that they are called to these operations
because what they do
is a lot more accurate
than, for instance, artillery.
And so for those real high value targets,
drones are
what the Ukrainians are using, John.
And just to be clear,
what was the explosive they were using?
It was
it was a found mortar
combined with something else.
Yeah, it was it was it was a mortar,
122 millimeter mortar that they found
from the Russians
when the Russians were retreating
from Harrison.
That, of course, was a battle
that took place
last year
when the Russians retreated from there.
And the Ukrainians were essentially
joking and saying, look,
we're giving them back there. Ammunition.
They use that.
And then they they basically rigged that
with a stabilizer that they 3D printed
in some tubing that they got.
And that made it extremely accurate.
That was also
one of the things that surprised us
as well, that with something
that's seen this rudimentary like that,
they were able to conduct
a precision strike.
They did show us later
when they had a reconnaissance
flight a day later
that they very accurately hit
that target John.
It all surprised me, Fred, frankly,
nothing more than the fact
that we were seeing it to begin with.
As I said,
at extraordinary vantage point.
Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
So glad you and your team are safe.
Frederik Pleitgen, thank you very much.