There’s no denying that the Russia—Ukraine conflict has been shared in extensive detail on social media. As such, one of the best ways to stay ahead of what’s happening across the front lines of Ukraine is to turn our OSINT skills to social media and analyse social media posts to find out about the conflict.
The Telegram wrap is a recurring piece that looks at interesting pieces of Ukrainian language information that have been posted to Telegram recently. With this, we aim to cover all the latest developments regarding drones and the usage of the radio spectrum.
One thing to remember though. The posts are taken from Telegram and written up without any fact-checking or additional analysis performed, so you’ll need to draw your own conclusions regarding authenticity and credibility.

Wooden Drones

The first item of interest comes from a fresh source. Posted to X by GrandpaRoy2, it covers the development of the Russian-designed “Vobla” heavy drone.
Using a main centre frame made out of either wood or, in some instances, aluminium, the Vobla is capable of carrying a reasonably heavy payload.
Its main design appears to be 4x quadcopters that are slaved to a central control unit, meaning each drone acts as a single motor, with the propellers turning at the same rate.

The Vobla series of drones are wooden frames powered by 4x small quads. Source: Telegram
It notes that the Vobla’s rudimentary design is due to the failure of the state to provide similar systems, meaning that, for the most part, drone operators have had to make do with systems that they already have. The payload of Vobla is estimated at around 15kg.
Visit this link to see the original post: https://x.com/GrandpaRoy2/status/1889418318488215978

Mine Man

This week has some strange, not quite drone-related updates, and this one is the first. Recent discussions show a “Mine Man” suit that allows the wearer to carry a pair of Soviet-era TM-62 Landmines.

The mine man suit allows the mines to be quickly moved into an area, making it easier to lug the 10kg odd mine into combat.
The suit appears to carry little in the way of protections, so we’ll leave it to you to determine the sanity of such a prospect.

Human Cope Cages

The second thing we have on display is a cope cage for people. Yes, those stylish metal barriers that were first adopted for tanks and IFVs have now gone upmarket.
Promising a “light design with a strong and powerful net”, the cope cage promises the average Russian infantryman protection. When you see a drone-dropped grenade heading your way, simply hop and you’ll remain undisturbed. Or something like that.

The footage was found on TikTok, and we’ll leave it to you to determine just how useful or effective such a system might be. While it’s probably better than nothing, you’d have to think that it would only be marginal.

Shahed Antennas

Further to our post last week that discussed new, SIGINT capable antennas for the Shahed drones, we now see a call put out for samples of the new tech for analysis purposes.

It notes that they are looking for the 12 or 16 element antennas and ancillary electronic parts. It will be interesting to see some of the information that is gathered via testing the new system.

Starlink Replacements

You don't have to be a cutting-edge military strategist to understand that under the current conditions, Starlink is a potential point of vulnerability for the Ukrainian armed forces. As such, it’s understood that alternatives for the system must be urgently sourced.

It appears that options are already under consideration, and we have more information regarding that, thanks to this post. It shows a possible alternative to the Starlink system that can be used to guide UAV systems.

It’s a small dish mounted on the drone internally that uses an AZ/EL rotator to keep the antennas oriented in the correct direction. Frequency information is unknown, and there is little more information regarding this system. We’ll keep an eye out for more info in the coming weeks.

Sylok Electronic Warfare

With EW strategies on the literal cutting edge, it can be hard to get an accurate gauge of systems and frequencies that are in use. This is because any edge attained can often last only a short period, meaning that tactics and equipment are ever-changing. So, any information we can get regarding such systems is typically welcomed.

This post discusses the Sylok EW system and its effectiveness on analogue FPV drone systems. We’ve made the point that the drone war has often gone through rapid changes in an attempt to maintain the upper hand, and while Sylok appears to have had some initial success, it appears its effectiveness has waned.

The post includes a picture that helps to show the overall design, as well as a video clip that shows the system in action, taking out an FPV system. While RF-based systems remain popular, viewing the video helps you understand why the fibre optic-based systems have become so useful.

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