A crew from the strike UAV unit “Lasar’s Group” of the National Guard of Ukraine destroyed a Russian reconnaissance drone ZALA Z-20 at an altitude of 6,400 meters. This is one of the highest recorded instances of a successful enemy drone interception since the start of the full-scale war. The news was reported on July 29 in the official channel of National Guard of Ukraine commander Oleksandr Pivnenko.
According to the report, in late July on the southern axis, the interceptor crew spotted a Russian ZALA Z-20 in the sky — a drone that the Russians use for reconnaissance and target acquisition at ranges exceeding 100 kilometers.
In an attempt to avoid being hit, the enemy operators climbed the drone to the maximum altitude possible for this type of aircraft — 6,400 meters. Nevertheless, this did not prevent the Ukrainian pilot from catching up with the target and destroying it. The unit published footage of the interception on its own channels.
The ZALA Z-20 is a reconnaissance UAV manufactured by ZALA Aero Group, which is part of the Kalashnikov concern. The aircraft was first publicly demonstrated in 2023, and the company itself positions it as one of its most expensive reconnaissance products, with cost estimates reaching around $200,000.
Key characteristics of the drone according to open sources and Ukrainian military intelligence:
- wingspan — approximately 4 meters;
- maximum takeoff weight — 17 kg, payload — up to 2.5 kg;
- flight endurance — up to 6 hours;
- speed — 65–110 km/h;
- communication/reconnaissance range — 100+ km;
- operational flight altitude — from 100 to 5,000 meters (according to some sources — up to 5 km).
Thus, the recorded intercept altitude of 6,400 meters exceeds the manufacturer’s declared service ceiling for the aircraft.
A few days before this episode, the unmanned systems unit “Madyar’s Birds” used an interceptor drone called “Chaklun-KM” to shoot down a rare strike-reconnaissance UAV “Forpost-R” over the Kursk region at an altitude of 4,300 meters — which was also a record at the time.
“Lasar’s Group” is one of the most publicly prominent strike UAV units within the National Guard of Ukraine, specializing in both strike and interceptor drone operations. The group’s tally includes the destruction of enemy equipment worth billions of dollars, including strikes against air defense assets such as Buk-M3 and S-300 systems in the Kostiantynivka direction.