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Inside A Secretive Drone Unit.

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. We made it to the best day of the week, Fri-yay.

I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. Before we dive into the weekend, we`ve got one more chance to download some knowledge and information into our brains.

So let`s get to it.

We start with an update on the ongoing war in Ukraine. The conflict there goes back to February of 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
 

annex [əˋnɛks] v. 并吞，强占

Then in February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. Russia

continues to gain Ukrainian territory, resulting in a refugee crisis and tens of thousands dead.

This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented his victory plan to Ukrainian Parliament. The ambitious plan to end the war has five

points, including NATO membership for Ukraine and proposals to strengthen Ukraine`s defenses, like improving air defense systems.

The plan also calls for the continuation of the incursion in Russia`s Kursk region, where Ukraine`s military has taken over Russian territory as an
 

continuation [kən͵tɪnjʊˋeʃən]n.（间断后的）再开始；继续不断；延续

incursion [ɪnˋkɝʃən] n. 侵略；入侵

important bargaining chip. The goal of the plan overall would be to eventually secure future peace talks with Russia.

The proposals come as Ukraine is facing several setbacks on the eastern front line. Russia keeps making incremental claims on the Donetsk region
 

incremental [ɪnkrəˋmənt!] adj. 增加的

claim [klem] n. 要求（拥有）;索取

and continues to attack Ukrainian cities with drone and missile strikes.

Preparing for winter will be a major task in Ukraine, as Russia continues to attack its energy infrastructure. And reluctance from the West has been
 

reluctance [rɪˋlʌktəns] n. 不情愿；勉强

another setback for Ukraine. Leaders have had to toe a line of supporting Ukraine while avoiding being swept into a larger war with Russia.
 

toe a line 严守规定、乖乖听话

Allies like the U.S. have repeatedly denied allowing Ukraine to use long- range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia. And allies have been reluctant to invite Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

while the conflict continues, which would lead to full NATO membership, which is founded on a principle of collective defense.

Without additional tangible support coming from European or U.S. allies, Ukrainians are using their resources prudently. CNN got rare and
 

prudently [ˋprudəntlɪ] adv. 谨慎地；慎重地

unprecedented access to one Ukrainian mission striking Russian targets.

Fred Pleitgen shows us how it all went down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ukrainian drones attacking southwestern Russia, Russian air defenses frantically

frantically [ˋfræntɪklɪ] adv. 疯狂地；狂热地

trying to take them down before they slam into their targets.

This massive drone strike carried out in late September by Ukraine`s Defense Intelligence Agency, the GUR. And they granted CNN unprecedented

access to the entire mission. Their target, a Russian ammo depot the Ukrainians say is storing missiles supplied to Moscow by Iran. Even though
 

ammo [ˋæmo] n.【口】弹药；军火

Tehran vehemently denies giving Russia ballistic missiles.
 

vehemently [ˋviəməntlɪ] adv. 激烈地；暴烈地；强烈地

The launch location totally secret. The mission run in near complete darkness. We can only identify the unit commander by his call sign, Vector.
 

vector [ˋvɛktɚ] n. 航向；航线; 【数】矢；向量

PLEITGEN (on camera): How fast do you guys have to be able to do all this now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I hope it will be in 20-40 minutes.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): OK. After installing the warheads and punching in the flight path, they push the drones to the takeoff area, the pilots going through
 

punch in 输入

flight path（飞机的）飞行路线，航线

go through 仔细察看; 仔细检查; 仔细审查

final checks. Then they get the go.

(On camera): The launch is always one of the most difficult and most sensitive parts of the mission. They have to follow the UAV very fast with

their cars to make sure it gets into the air all right.

(Voice-over): The drones disappear quickly into the night sky. The GUR has been behind hundreds of long-range missions into Russia, they say,

including this September attack on an ammo depot between Moscow and St. Petersburg, causing massive explosions visible for miles.

The Ukrainians believe they hit hundreds of missiles and explosives. And in July, they hit an oil refinery on Russia`s Black Sea coast, causing a major

fire there. In total, the GUR says, these drone units are responsible for about a third of a successful strikes deep into Russian territory.

(On camera): Operational security is extremely important for this team. So we`re on our way to the next secret location right now. They remain on the

move almost all the time. Right now, we`re going to a place where they`re going to do the detailed planning for the flight paths. And we will see the

actual drones.

(Voice-over): The weapons depot is about 400 miles from the Ukrainian border in the southwestern Russian village of Kotluban. A major problem, a mesh of
 

mesh [mɛʃ] n.（金属丝、塑料或线织成的）网，网状物

powerful Russian air defenses guarding the area.

The drone pilots try to find even the smallest corridors to avoid Russian radars. They gave us permission to show a simplified version of the flight

path they calculated for this mission with dozens of waypoints and changes of direction.
 

waypoint [ˋwe͵pɔɪnt] n. 航点，路径点

But they`ll also launched dozens of decoy drones like these, which they want the Russians to detect and to shoot down. They even put tinfoil on the
 

decoy [dɪˋkɔɪ] n.（诱捕鸟兽用的）假鸟，假兽

tinfoil [ˋtɪn͵fɔɪl] n. 锡箔；锡纸

wings to give them a bigger radar signature.

(On camera): So you want the Russian radars to see this and think that it`s a bigger drone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Of course, yes, very good.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But these are the actual strike drones. The Ukrainian made Antonov AN-196 named Ljutyj, Ukrainian for fierceness or
 

fierceness [ˋfɪrsnɪs] n. 凶猛，猛烈

rage. They carry up to 500-pound warheads and fly around 1,300 miles. And they fit into the back of these nondescript trailers for covert deployment.
 

nondescript [ˋnɑndɪ͵skrɪpt] adj. 平常的；平庸的；平淡无奇的

trailer [ˋtrelɚ] n. 车辆, 拖车；挂车

covert [ˋkʌvɚt] adj. 隐蔽的；隐藏的；暗地的

The Ukrainian say they get good results with the Ljutyj drones. But what they really need is permission from the U.S. and its allies to use Western-

supplied longer-distance weapons.

(On camera): Why do you need the permission for using Western weapons deep inside Russian territory?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We want to win, we want to finish this war as soon as we can. And we understand that if you have better

equipment, better weapons, we can finish it very quickly.

I don`t want my son or other children to have war in the future. So we want to finish it in my life. So for protecting their life from such disaster

like we received from Russia.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): So far, the U.S. is not allowing Ukraine to fire American supplied weapons deep into Russia as Russia has escalated its own

aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure using heavy guided glide bombs, cruise missiles designed to take out whole aircraft
 

glide bomb 滑翔炸弹

take out: Slang to kill:

carrier strike groups and nuclear capable strategic bombers.

All the Ukrainians have are their little drones, launching them in swarms to even have a chance to penetrate Russia`s air defenses.

While the Russians claimed to have shot down the drones, a video posted on social media shows what appear to be those drones impacting and major

explosions in the area of the arms depot. And Ukrainian defense intelligence showed CNN the unblurred version of this video. Now heavily blurred
 

blurred [blɝd] adj. 模糊不清的；难辨别的

for operational security reasons. And it shows 11 blasts coming from the same place, they say, so large, they`re confident they hit their

targets.

CNN was also able to independently verify through a source what seems to be a direct hit on the facility. We`re not publishing the image to protect the

source`s anonymity but it showed an explosion at the facility and what seems to be wreckage scattered around.
 

anonymity [͵ænəˋnɪmətɪ] n. 匿名

A Maxar image shared with CNN shows the same heavily damaged building with some debris still laying on the floor, signs that the Russian military may

have cleaned up the site.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

PLEITGEN (voice-over): A small but important victory in their ongoing covert war against a powerful enemy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10. Let the gourd times roll or attack. A very different kind of giant pumpkin created a comically chaotic
 

comically [ˋkɑmɪk!ɪ] adv. 滑稽地；诙谐地；可笑地

scene in Ohio.

Bay Village police shared dash cam video of officers dispatched to remove a giant inflatable Jack-o`-lantern that rolled out into the road. And then in
 

dash cam 行车纪录器

inflatable [ɪnˋfletəb!] adj. 可充气的

a spooky turn of events, the pumpkin appeared to swallow the officers trying to wrangle it. No humans or pumpkins were harmed, and the inflatable
 

spooky [ˋspukɪ] adj. 怪異的; 詭異的

wrangle [ˋræŋg!] v. 看管（牛群、马群等）

Halloween decoration was returned to its owners.

Keep your head on a swivel this weekend, everyone. I hope you have an absolutely awesome couple of days, but before we go, best part of the show, you.
 

keep one’s head on a swivel: to remain vigilant of one's surroundings

swivel [ˋswɪv!] n. 转椅座架

Shout out to Pierce Middle School in Milton, Massachusetts. We see you warriors. And shout out to your Massachusetts Middle School principal of

the year, Dr. Fish. Rise Up.

Make this weekend one for the books. Remember, you are more powerful than you know. I`m Coy Wire. It`s been a blessing to spend this week with you.

END