“, drones, drones. only drones. Many drones.” An exhausted Ukrainian squad commander talks about the transformed nature of modern war while it is medically evacuated from the front. There are kamikaze drones. Surveillance drones. Bombarder drones. Drones that destroy other drones.
These machines swarm for heaven. They are cheap, lethal and are among the main reasons why Ukraine believes that the progress of the Russian forces can resist this year and even beyond, according to a dozen commanders, officials and manufacturers of Ukrainian weapons involved in kyiv’s defense.
The Ukrainian soldiers describe the drone infested corridor, which covers about 10 kilometers on both sides of the contact line, such as the “zone of death”, since unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) piloted remotely, deployed by both sides, can quickly detect and neutralize the objectives. The evolution of war, which has become the conflict with greater use of drones ever seen, has reduced Russia’s ability to exploit its traditional advantages in number of troops, artillery and tanks, according to two Ukrainian commanders in the front interviewees.
Any large vehicle that operates near the front is now an obvious goal, which means that Russian forces can no longer make the rapid advances they achieved in 2022 with columns of armored vehicles, according to the commanders, as well as the founder of Ochi, a system that centralizes video transmissions of more than 15,000 crew of Ukrainian military drones in the front. “The enemy sees you completely,” added Oleksandr Dmitriev, from Ochi. “It doesn’t matter where you go or what you drive.”
Consequently, Russia has adapted their tactics, said Ukrainian commanders on the battlefield; Their forces now usually attack in small groups of five or six people, on foot, in an attempt to expose the Ukrainian positions attracting their fire and then throwing drones attacks against them, they added. The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comments on this article.
Despite the changes in the war, the Russian forces maintain their domain and are making slow but constant advances in the east and northern Ukraine. Russia has also up to date on unmanned aerial vehicle technology (UAV) after being left behind at the beginning of the war, according to military analysts, and, like its enemy, it is producing mass drones nationwide at a rate of millions a year.
Meanwhile, European leaders try to analyze through NATO, with Europe assuming costs. Many details are still clear, including the type and amount of weapons, the speed with which they would be sent and how they would be paid exactly, American and European officials reported this week.
The White House did not answer the questions about the supply plan. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that the war had extended too much and that Trump wanted to end the killings, so she is selling US weapons to NATO for Ukraine and threatening strong sanctions to Russia. The people interviewed for this article, who spoke before Trump’s announcement about weapons, claimed to believe that Ukraine could continue fighting and resist Russia even if no more American help arrived, although they did not specify deadlines.
Many cited the primacy of drones as a factor that has leveled the land to some extent and has made Ukraine more self -sufficient, and also highlighted the growing military supply of European allies.
“We can resist for months,” said Oleksandr Kamyshin, arms expert and strategic advisor to the Ukrainian president, when asked about what would happen if the supplies of US weapons cease. “In 2023 or 2024, it would have been much worse; we would be talking about days or weeks.”
The Polish military analyst Konrad Muzyka, who has made numerous visits to the front, said that Ukraine’s goal was to weaken the Russian attacks, and added that kyiv did not currently have the ability to launch his own offensive. He said that Ukraine would probably have difficulties in a long war of wear due to his shortage of personnel and the superiority of Russia’s resources. While drones have transformed the battlefield, he warned that their ability to compensate for the absence of artillery and mortars should not be exaggerated.
“To inflict the damage caused by an artillery projectile to an objective, dozens of drones would be needed,” he added. “Drones can meet the needs to some extent and give a break, but they do not replace artillery.”
Rain of destruction from heaven
Drones are demons, at least for those in the annihilation zone that covers the 1,000 kilometers of contact line.
Unmanned aerial vehicles of recognition of both sides – symptile to shrunk aircraft, plastic or polystyrene and equipped with sophisticated cameras – can detect enemies kilometers away. They fly over the front lines, transmitting what they see in real time.
They find objectives for the fleets of bombarder drones -often hexacoptera the size of center tables capable of launching precision grenades with 3D -printed rear fins -as well as for kamikaze drones, some with launcher launcher coupled launches to drill armor, capable of impacting soldiers, tanks and weapons systems. The squad commander who was being evacuated from the front, Iván, 35 years old and with the “atom” indicative, said that the soldiers of both sides now considered the non -manned aerial vehicles the greatest threat to their lives, replacing the projectiles, mines and enemy fighters, which were the main dangers at the beginning of the war.
Olga Kozum, 34, a doctor who accompanied him on the bus, agreed: most of the injuries on the battlefield that she and her colleagues are caused by unmanned aerial vehicles, he said.
According to Ukrainian internal estimates consulted by Reuters, drones represented 69% of attacks against Russian troops and 75% of attacks against vehicles and equipment in 2024. About 18% of attacks against Russian infantry and 15% of attacks against vehicles and equipment were carried out with artillery, and even less with mortars, according to the same estimates.
The arms race of unmanned aerial vehicles in times of war has generated many innovations; Both parties are deploying short -range fiber optic drones that cannot be blocked electronically, as well as “interceptors” that trace and destroy enemy recognition and attack drones.
The production planned by kyiv this year of 30,000 long -range unmanned aerial vehicles, designed to attack objectives in the interior of Russia, as deposits of weapons and energy facilities, increases the offensive threat of Ukraine, according to Vadym Sukharevskyi, commander of the country’s drone forces until the beginning of June.
The average cost of a long -range attack drone ranges between $ 50,000 and $ 300,000, about 10 times less than a similar range, although a drone’s eye is smaller, said Sukharevskyi in an interview while still helding the position.
“This is our asymmetric response,” he said, adding that Ukraine began to develop this type of drones “precisely because we lack missiles.” Kamyshin, advisor to President Zelenski, added: “You can’t win a great war if it only defends itself.” Long -range drones attacks are “one of the main bazas that Ukraine can play against Russia at this time.”
Volodimir Zelenski, with the American Patriot missile system behind him, in an image last June.
Patriot and Intelligence
The military-industrial base of Ukraine is expanding rapidly and now represents about 40% of the weapons and equipment used, including drones, according to Zelenski, who on Wednesday set the goal of reaching 50% in six months.
kyiv also has, which could increase the country’s resilience in the face of geopolitical crises.
The Kiel Institute, an economic research group based in Germany, estimated in a report last month that Europe had surpassed the United States in total military aid provided during the war for the first time since June 2022, reaching 72,000 million euros, compared to the 65,000 million euros of Washington. The institute said that the aid flows to Ukraine varyed significantly in March and April, since no new American help was assigned and European countries increased their support.
Although the United States has been, and remains, the main provider of artillery projectiles to Ukraine during the war, Europe is expanding its capacity and has acquired hundreds of thousands of ammunition inside and outside the continent.
Of the approximately 420,000 artillery projectiles received by Ukraine since the beginning of this year until mid -May, only 160,000 projectiles came from the United States, according to a European security source that requested anonymity because they are confidential issues.
Kamyshin said Ukraine manufactured around 2.4 million of his own projectiles in 2024, although these were mainly for mortars, which have a shorter reach.
However, Ukraine depends especially on the United States regarding air defense and intelligence exchange, according to military analysts. kyiv especially wishes US Air Defense systems, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles that Russia triggers with increasing frequency. In April of this year, Ukraine had seven fully operational systems, well below the 25 that Zelenskiy requested, according to analysts of the Ukrainian publication Defence Express.
Drones with long -range drones and missiles usually depend on American satellite intelligence. European countries could only contribute small to their replacement if the United States stopped sharing it, according to the European Union Security Studies Institute.
