KYIV, Oct 26 – Ukraine’s armed forces on Tuesday for the first time deployed combat drone Bayraktar TB2 in an operation to destroy Russian-backed enemy artillery, the General Staff reported.

The strike, ordered by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Valery Zaluzhniy, came in response to shelling by the enemy forces of Ukrainian army positions, killing one soldier and wounding one.

“In order to force the enemy to cease fire, Bayraktar was used by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the General Staff said in a statement. “The unmanned aerial vehicle did not cross the line of contact and destroyed one gun at the expense of the Russian occupation forces with a guided bomb.”

The deployment of Bayraktar TB2, which was designed and manufactured in Turkey, is a major change in the conflict, giving Ukraine a capability to target energy positions from afar and use precision strike missiles.

The Russian-backed energy forces shelled the Ukrainian positions in town of Hranitne by using a battery of D-30 howitzers between 14:25 and 15:15 local time, the Ukrainian army said.

The OSCE monitoring mission has called for a ceasefire by sending a note through diplomatic channels, but the Russian-backed forced have failed to respond, forcing Zaluzhniy’s order to deploy the drone strike.

Bayraktar TB2 managed to find, track and destroy 122mm D-30 howitzer south of the occupied Boykivske. The drone strike came from a distance of 15 km to save life of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers.

Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle can carry a maximum payload of more than 150 kg. The drone can fly up to 22,500 feet and loiter for more than 24 hours.

Bayraktar TB2 drones, which entered the Turkish army’s inventory in 2014, are currently used by Turkey, Ukraine, Qatar, and Azerbaijan.

Ukraine received the first such drone from Turkey in July. Ukrainian drone operators had a three-month training course in Turkey that had been completed about a month ago. (tl/ez)