Drones Rule Ukraine's Front Line, Forcing Soldiers Underground in a Deadly 'Kill Zone'
Along a front line that has barely shifted in four years, a belt of drone-saturated territory has become the defining feature of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
By Juan Gonzalez · · Originally reported by KJZZ
The front line in the war between Russia and Ukraine runs the length of the country from north to south, and it has barely moved in four years. Some observers liken the deadlock to the trench warfare of World War I. But on both sides of that line lies a belt of territory where drones dominate, and where the technology is shaping the conflict and, many believe, the future of warfare.
Sr. Lt. Taras Myshak, spokesman for Ukraine's 59th Separate Assault Brigade, described the area, known as the kill zone, in an interview with NPR from a location a few miles from the front in eastern Ukraine. He said it is full of Russian drones, mines and artillery, with reconnaissance and surveillance that never stop. Ukraine fields a similar arsenal against Russian troops dug in on the opposite side.
In such conditions, even a small sign of movement, such as a soldier poking his head out of a foxhole for air, can draw the attention of drones overhead and bring an attack. Rotating troops is especially hard. Myshak said one group nearby needed four hours to cover a single kilometer because each time they heard a drone they had to hide and wait for it to pass. Darkness offers no relief, since drones carry thermal cameras that pick up body heat. "In the night, it's even more dangerous," he said.
Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022 with fast, conventional advances by columns of armored vehicles. Ukraine's counteroffensive that fall pushed Russian forces back in some areas. Since then the front, now more than 700 miles long, has shifted only incrementally, mostly through limited Russian gains. The kill zone on either side is roughly 10 to 20 miles wide.
Rob Lee, a U.S. Marine veteran who lives in Ukraine and tracks the war for the Foreign Policy Research Institute of Philadelphia, called the kill zone "basically a product of drone warfare." Because Ukraine has far fewer troops and leans heavily on drones, its presence at the front is thin. Lee said that in many places there are fewer than 10 soldiers per mile, in small groups of two to four spread hundreds of yards apart, mostly underground and trying to stay hidden. Their role is less to block Russian advances than to spot movement and relay it to drone operators farther back, who then hunt the intruders from the air.
The density of drones makes it nearly impossible for either side to assemble a large ground force without being detected and hit. Vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers are even easier targets. "Because of such a high density of drones, it became very difficult to bring vehicles near the front line at all," Lee said.
Neither army planned for this. Ukraine had no real drone industry when the invasion began, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the country will produce 10 million drones this year. Russia has also expanded output and is expected to make more than 7 million this year, including jet-powered aircraft that frequently evade Ukrainian defenses.
Dima Putiata, a former sergeant who left the military in May, said he knew nothing about drones when he joined four years ago and at first dismissed them, preferring to "fight like men." Few troops were trained, he recalled, and drivers were simply told they could try flying one. By the time he left, he commanded 26 drone crews in and around the kill zone in northeastern Ukraine. He said both sides have adapted quickly without knowing where the technology is headed: "You just need to keep going and adapting."
Two years ago Ukraine became the first country to make drones an independent branch of its military. The effort now includes ground robots resembling trolleys that carry food, medicine and ammunition to the front, conduct regular attacks when fitted with machine guns, and evacuate wounded soldiers. Lyuba Shipovich, who heads the private training group Dignitas, said drone operators and medics have different skills, and her group is developing a program to train both together.
Though media attention often goes to long-range strikes deep inside each country, most fighting takes place in the kill zone, where Lee and other analysts say drones cause 80% of casualties. Putiata said drones are the cheapest flying munition that can be mass produced, making war "much cheaper than it used to be," and predicted the world will see this kind of war more often.
