Ukrainian Drone Strike Puts Rare $10M Russian R-330 Zhitel EW Vehicle Out of Action, Video

Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces, working with border guard units, struck and disabled a Russian R-330Zh “Zhitel” radio-electronic warfare vehicle in Luhansk, the Ukrainian military reported on October 6.

The operation was carried out by fighters from the 412th Regiment “Nemesis,” who located the system with a reconnaissance drone and then attacked it with a drone-bomber.

According to the Ukrainian military, a bomber drone made several precision munitions drops that ignited the vehicle’s camouflage netting and, most likely, caused heavy damage to the combat vehicle itself. After the hit, the R-330 was rendered inoperable and requires recovery and repair, the statement said.

The R-330 Zhitel is a relatively rare and expensive Russian mobile electronic warfare complex. Mounted on a KAMAZ truck chassis, the system is designed to detect, intercept, and suppress satellite, cellular, and radio signals. Its mission is to degrade enemy command-and-control, reconnaissance, and unmanned systems by creating area-wide radio interference.

The complex can locate signal sources, such as satellite communications terminals, mobile-phone base stations, and drone-control nodes, and—under favorable conditions—can disrupt communications within a radius of approximately 30 kilometers. The system’s approximate value is $10 million.

Ukrainian forces noted that the R-330 Zhitel is a high-value target. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has visually confirmed the destruction of only 23 such systems, underlining both the tactical value of the strike and the rarity of confirmed hits on this class of equipment.

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Category

War in Ukraine

Russian Electronic Warfare Systems Ukraine Has Taken Down So Far

Apr 03, 2025 11:59

Analysts say disabling enemy EW systems like the R-330 has an outsized operational effect: removing an area jamming node restores friendly freedom of maneuver for drones, restores GPS-dependent weapons and navigation, and complicates Russian attempts to blind reconnaissance and drone strike networks.

Earlier, for the first time, internal Russian figures on military losses in 2025 have surfaced, revealing devastating personnel and equipment losses that Moscow has tried to conceal.

According to the leaked data, in the first 243 days of 2025, Russia lost 281,550 soldiers killed, wounded, missing, or captured.

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