The mud of Hillydense and black, continues to stick to the boots of the soldiers walking along the front, just as it did four years ago. The rubble, to which Russia continues to reduce Ukrainian frontline cities, is also the same as in 2022. And yet, the war in ukraine has changed drastically in recent months due to use of drones as a combat weapon.
Currently, most of the trenches dug underground They are occupied by drone units. In some they carry out reconnaissance missions, and in others they operate FPV (first-person vision) attack drones. Unmanned vehicles today can undertake almost any job on the front line.
“With this drone I can carry up to 14 kilos of supplies and ammunition to infantry positions. with a single flight,” explains Runa, while connecting several tablets and telephones to the cables hanging from the ceiling of the trench we just entered. We are less than five kilometers from the Russian troops, Runa is the commander of the position, and pilots a Vampiro drone from the 56 Brigade.
Runa, pilot and commander of a Vampiro drone position on the Donetsk combat front.
“The greatest advantage of the Vampire is that it also we can arm it with large projectileswhich cause great damage to enemy forces,” he continues. “Its only disadvantage is that it makes a lot of noise, and most missions must be carried out at night to avoid being destroyed.”
The war takes place at night
It has been a paradigm shift that has turned the war around. More and more attack missions are carried out at night, relying on thermal or infrared vision cameras that these vehicles carry. Now, the most dangerous part of a combat operation is not the one carried out from the trench: it is getting to that trench and leaving again later.
The Ukrainian front has never been so dangerous. In the early years of the invasion, the greatest risk came from artillery. But you could get into position in broad daylight. Now that is unthinkable.
Little by little drones have been displacing artilleryand to understand to what extent they are being used, it is enough to look at the following data: currently 85% of the casualties that occur on the front – both deaths and injuries – are caused by drones.
Runa is an example of this change. She enlisted in the Ukrainian Army eight years ago, and served most of that time in the artillery gun. “Before our greatest strength was our cannonsbut they stopped being that way and we changed them to Vampires,” he acknowledges.
“They are great bombers“You’re already seeing it today,” she adds while pointing to one of the screens. When I look at it, I can see several Russian soldiers on the ground; one seems dead, another is crawling, badly injured because of the attack she has just carried out.
Valet, a pilot from the 56th Brigade, prepares for an attack mission with the Vampiro drone that his unit operates on the Donetsk front.
A technological career
The Vampire It has become the flagship of Ukrainian heavy drones due to its versatility and effectiveness – and also because of the terror they sowed among Russian soldiers when they began to be tested, in the summer of 2023. But it is not the only drone, nor the most used in this war.
Los ubiquitous FPV that are piloted with virtual reality glasses – as if they were a video game – are the most numerous on all combat fronts. And also the most dangerous, because they are now capable of evading electronic warfare systems by being guided by fiber optic cables.
The drone war is proceeding at an unusual speed: its evolution is so rapid that new models can become obsolete in a few weeks if the design or software They do not meet the needs of pilots. And they are also adapting to the new uses that the brigades give them.
Although in the first months of the invasion they were only used for reconnaissance tasks – which included searching for targets for artillery, controlling enemy positions or guarding perimeters – today they are much more versatile.
Hoy drones no longer just fly through the air. There are unmanned aerial vehicles capable of carrying out attacks at sea; and others on land who already carry out trench assaults without the intervention of flesh and blood soldiers. They are even capable of evacuating wounded people from the battlefield, thus preventing the combat medic from risking his life.
gray area
However, the undeniable technological development that has occurred in the field of drones has not been translated into a significant advance of infantry troops on the ground.
In January 2023, in the midst of the battle for BakhmutRussian forces were 45 kilometers from the city of Kramatorsk –the last major bastion remaining under the control of the Zelensky government in the heart of the Hilly- Today, the zero line continues to be 15 kilometers away.
Russia has advanced 30 kilometers – in three years – in this part of the combat front, where Runa now pilots her Vampiro drone. And it has not been able to occupy any population located in that strip without first destroying it.
Combined attacks with guided aerial bombs and drone suicides type Shahed o Molniya They have only managed to get Putin to expand that gray zone – totally devastated and where there is no life left – that separates the territories he has occupied from the rest of Ukraine.
A war of attrition whose price in lives could exceed the half a million adding to the fallen soldiers of both sides –most of it on the Russian side–, without there being any possibility today that the conflict can be resolved on the battlefield.
“Actually the war in our country began in 2014, although there has been more talk about the large-scale invasion in the last four years,” Runa reflects when she drops the remote control with which she has just carried out another mission. “I can tell you that we are all tired nowalthough we have learned to live in war and we continue to have motivation. But we also have a great desire for peace to come to our country.”
Runa pilots a Vampiro drone from his trench, dug underground on the Donetsk front line, while Valet watches the attack mission unfold.
Dreaming from a trench
“We want the war to end, for the losses and deaths to end. And I’m not just talking about the soldiers at the front, but also about the people in the rear, because the enemy launches many attacks with missiles, with Shahed drones and other types of unmanned vehicles. There children, women, elderly dieordinary people just living their lives.”
“We just wish the enemy would retreatleave our territory and everything returns to how it should be. “Live in a country at peace, and that the military can finally rest, after having sustained the defense for so long,” insists Runa, who, at 27 years old, has lived almost half of his life at war.
“When I’m done, I I will continue to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I want to stay here and in some way contribute to reforming the army for the better, being involved in that process,” she says.
“But I also have a personal dream: to open my own gym. I really like sports, although now I don’t have time to dedicate to it. At first I could still train a little, but not anymore, because there is too much work… One day, when this war is over, I will have my own gym and I will invite you to come.”
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