A Russian drone warhead described in Ukraine as a new «cutting» weapon is based on technology that has been in use since the Soviet era, drone aviation expert Dmitry Kuzyakin told TASS.

Kuzyakin, chief designer at the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions, was responding to Sergey Beskrestnov, an adviser to Vladimir Zelensky and a specialist in communications and unmanned systems, who claimed that Russian forces had used a «cutting» warhead on a UAV for the first time.

According to Kuzyakin, the weapon is a cumulative cutting special-purpose charge designed to destroy metal truss structures, cables and other reinforced structures. He said such munitions are neither secret nor new and were developed and manufactured in the Soviet Union.

The need for specialized weapons against metal structures became apparent as early as World War I, Kuzyakin explained. Conventional high-explosive munitions are poorly suited to destroying trusses, cables, stays and reinforcement. The same problem applies to bridges: artillery shells and aerial bombs can leave holes in the roadway while the bridge itself remains standing.

Kuzyakin said the solution was a munition using an explosively formed penetrator, a technology that has existed for nearly 70 years and is available to weapons-producing countries around the world.

He linked the sudden attention to these munitions in Ukraine to developments in recent months. In his assessment, Ukrainian specialists and opinion leaders have begun to recognize what he described as a total turning point in the war and the hopelessness of the situation.

Kuzyakin pointed to Russia’s use of jet-powered strike drones, continuous combined attacks and prolonged ballistic missile strikes. He said expectations that Russia would weaken and quickly exhaust its missile stocks had not materialized.