Turkey's shadow in Ukraine worries Russia and France
A statement from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, as well as a video released by the General Staff of the Armed Forces, have openly publicised the use of armed flights of Bayraktar TB2 drones in the conflict in the Donbass. These drones, produced by Turkey and sold in large numbers to Kiev, are one of the great achievements of the Turkish military industry. Their use in the Ukrainian conflict, and against pro-Russian rebels, has irritated and worried Russia, France and NATO alike.
The footage released by the Ukrainian authorities shows, through the camera mounted on the drone, a medium-range missile shelling a position occupied by a light artillery team of the pro-Russian rebels. The missile leaves a large cloud of smoke and earth at the gunners' position, which is devastated, after which the recording is cut off.
In the wake of these events, Russia's impression was expressed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's press statement, in which he assessed the situation of the war in Ukraine. "We have very good ties with Turkey, but in this situation our fears are unfortunately being realised, because deliveries of such weapons to the Ukrainian military can potentially destabilise the situation on the line of contact," Peskov told Reuters. It is clear that Russia is not pleased that its indirect enemy, the Kiev government, has in its hands such sophisticated tools of war as the Bayraktar TB2, and that their use is indiscriminate in the conflict in the Donbass, where Russia is betting heavily. Turkey's interference goes so far that it has firmly proposed to produce the combat and exploration drones in Ukraine, to make it easier to supply the Ukrainian armed forces.
Turkey is once again destabilising the situation in a troubled region, but this time on Europe's and Russia's doorstep. This was also made clear by Putin's government spokesman. "We see that as soon as these weapons fall into the hands of the (Ukrainian) military, they can potentially be used in this (eastern) region of Ukraine, and this leads to destabilisation," Dmitry Peskov repeated, according to Reuters. "This does not contribute to the solution of this internal Ukrainian problem." The fears of Russia and France are that the presence of a power like Turkey will do nothing to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
On the French side, as published by the Emirati media Al-Ain, the first spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry, Anne Claire Legendre, made a statement at the Quai d'Orsay in which she criticised the use of new weapons of war in Ukraine, provided by Erdogan's administration. She said they would run counter to the intention to de-escalate the conflict, a goal that does not seem to be on Turkey's agenda after the sale of Bayraktar and the promise of more supplies. "We are concerned about the escalation of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, in addition to the repeated use of heavy weapons banned by the Minsk agreements, and the announcement by Ukrainian military personnel of the use of the armed Bayraktar drone," said Anne Claire Legendre. "These acts are inconsistent with the measures to consolidate the ceasefire that came into force on 27 July 2020," continued the French ministry spokeswoman.
Ukraine thus joins the list of countries using this unmanned aircraft, which already includes the Moroccan Armed Forces, which received 13 aircraft in September 2021, Azerbaijan and Qatar, as well as the Gendarmerie and the Turkish Air Force. The Bayraktar TB2 (Turkish for "flag-bearer") has a length of 6.5 metres and a wingspan of 12 metres with wings deployed. It weighs 150 kg and can be armed and equipped up to 650 kg. With a cruising speed of 130 km/h, it can launch long-range L-UMTAS anti-tank missiles or the Turkish Roketsan Cirit laser-guided missiles after a flight range of 27 hours.
The Bayraktar had its baptism of fire on the Turkish border with Iraq, bombing Kurdish PKK positions in what turned out to be bloody attacks back in 2019. But its real star performance took place during the Nagorno-Karabakh fighting from September to November 2020, when the Azeri Air Force bombed Armenian troops relentlessly thanks to the Bayraktar supplied by Turkey and the training given to Azerbaijani pilots by the Turkish military, due to the very good relationship and operational cooperation between the two countries.