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Ukraine’s military units are competing with each other by carrying out deadly drone strikes to earn points that can be used to buy more weapons.
The video game-style rewards system is proving very popular, with hundreds of units participating, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister said. Launched a year ago, it is now being expanded to reconnaissance, artillery and logistics operationsAccording to reports.
“It has become really popular among the units,” Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said. Guardian. “All defense forces are aware of this and are competing for points to get these drones, electronic warfare systems and other things to help in the war.
“The more infantry you kill, the more drones you get to kill more infantry. It’s becoming a kind of self-reinforcing cycle.”
Soldiers who carry out successful attacks win points that can be exchanged to buy more weapons in an “Amazon-for-war” online shop called Brave1, including drone and Autonomous vehicles.
The newspaper reported that at least 400 drone units are using the “drone army bonus system”, which killed or injured 18,000 Russian soldiers in September. This number was double from last October, when the Ukrainian government doubled the reward for killing a Russian infantryman from six to 12 points.
Drones and autonomous vehicles can be purchased from the online marketplace with “E-Points”, which are awarded to units for verified destruction of enemy equipment or personnel.
A Kolibri 7 UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) was the cheapest drone that could be purchased with points, costing 13,410 Ukrainian hryvnia (UAH), equivalent to £242.87. The most expensive, the MACUVA BpAK, was on sale for 41,506,466 PLN, or approximately £751,724.73.
Mr Fedorov said the decision to implement a points-based system for Russian casualties was one of several ways Ukraine was trying to be “more effective”.
“We have been at war for four years straight and it is hard,” he said. “We’re just looking for ways to be more effective. We’re treating it as just a part of our everyday work. There’s no emotional reflection here. It just feels like technical work.
“Because if you don’t stop the enemy, he will kill your soldiers and after the soldiers are dead, he will come to a city and conquer, destroy and kill the civilians.”
Citing Ukrainian intelligence sources, he warned that Russia appeared to be developing its own gamified systems.
Drones have become a major weapon for both Kyiv and Moscow. Russia has significantly increased its drone attacks this year; The summer saw an increase in the frequency of acute attacks overnight experts told Independent Its purpose was to create panic among the population of Ukraine.
Kiev faced 818 drones and missiles in the overnight attack on September 7, one of the largest ever in the war.