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<\/p>\nUkraine unveiled “invisibility cloaks” on Wednesday that will allow its soldiers to hide from Russian forces.<\/p>\n
The cloaks, created by Brave1 – a defense technology project sponsored by the Ukrainian government – do not show up on Russian thermal imaging cameras and drones, claims Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation.<\/p>\n
The ingenious invention works by blocking heat radiation, thereby rendering the soldier invisible to the enemy, it’s claimed.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s intelligentsia got to work on the cloaks back in 2015, when it was intended to be used by snipers and Security Service of Ukraine special operations soldiers in the eastern Donbas region, Maxim Boryak, one of the developers of the cloak, told CNN.<\/p>\n
The project gathered momentum after Russia invaded in February 2022.<\/p>\n
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The cloak makes use of materials generally used by firefighters, which keep hot air from escaping and showing up on thermal imaging cameras, while an incorporated ventilation system cools down the hot air stranded inside the cloak.<\/p>\n
Boryak refers to it as a \u201csimple system\u201d that weighs up to 2.5 kilograms (about 5.5 pounds). The cloaks are rainproof and non-flammable.<\/p>\n
The cloaks have already been used by the 35th Marine Brigade during the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Boryak said.<\/p>\n
They were first made public in a demo video shared by Fedorov on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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He said that the video “shows a finished sample that has been successfully tested in the field”.<\/p>\n
It comes as Ukraine presses on with the slow-moving counteroffensive it launched three months ago to expel Russian invaders, though mounting concerns about replenishing its military stocks and cracks in the Western wall of support cast a cloud over the effort.<\/p>\n
Adm. Rob Bauer, the head of NATO\u2019s military committee, sounded the alarm about depleted stockpiles on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom of the barrel is now visible,\u201d Bauer said of weapons systems and ammunition supplies.<\/p>\n
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With the war of attrition likely continuing through winter into next year, Bauer urged the defense industry to boost production \u201cat a much higher tempo. And we need large volumes,\u201d he told the Warsaw Security Forum, an annual two-day conference that continued on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones during a concerted nighttime attack by Kyiv\u2019s forces on border regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, as uncertainty grew over Ukraine\u2019s future access to weapons and ammunition from Western allies.<\/p>\n
The drone attack appeared to be Kyiv\u2019s largest single cross-border drone assault reported by Moscow since the Kremlin launched its invasion 20 months ago. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.<\/p>\n