Kyiv's troops adapt as Russia gains edge in drone warfare

Japan Times

2 days ago

Three Ukrainian soldiers raced across a field on a quad bike in eastern Ukraine, weaving at 100 kilometers an hour to avoid the attack drone chasing them from the sky.
One fired a shotgun upward, blasting the tiny craft into pieces.
This time it is just a training exercise. But with Russia having gained an upper hand in front line drone warfare for the first time since it invaded, Kyiv's troops are practicing hard.
Both armies have used drones extensively over the three-year war — for front line strikes and reconnaissance as well as long-range strikes deep inside each other's territory.
But Ukrainian soldiers along the front and top brass in Kyiv say Russia has started deploying more of them, and ones that are harder to thwart.
"The enemy's intensity has increased significantly," in recent weeks, said a 27-year-old drone navigator with the call sign Boroda, which means beard.
"You cannot make a mistake. You cannot relax," another soldier said anonymously at the training in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia's drone lead
Russia's edge in the drone battle comes with its troops advancing in multiple sections of the front, and as it ramps up deadly night-time bombardments of Ukrainian cities.
The situation is a reversal from the start of the invasion, when Kyiv quickly took the lead in drone technology.
A Ukrainian marksman fires a automatic weapon into the air from the back of a quad bike during a training session at an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine earlier this month. |
AFP-Jiji
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky told reporters recently that Russia now had an advantage in fiber-optic drones, tethered by cables up to 40 km long to prevent them from being wirelessly jammed.
Ukraine is trying to adapt.
"The development of drones is dictating changes in both the tactics of troop deployment and the requirements for fortifications," Syrsky said.
Near the town of Kramatorsk, a logistics hub for Ukraine on the eastern front, nets surround key roads to stop drones crashing down and exploding into vehicles.
Armoured vehicles are also covered in netting, while quad bikes are being used to evacuate the wounded — more agile than larger, clunkier machinery.
"They are smaller, easier to drive, easier to get to positions, deliver combat kits to the guys, and pick up the wounded," said one soldier, with the call sign Akademik.
For attacks, both Russia and Ukraine now deploy motorbike units.
"We're going to end up on bicycles," one soldier said.
"The era of military vehicles is over," said Yevgen, press officer with the 28th Separate Mechanised Brigade.
He said the "philosophy of war has changed", requiring Ukraine to adapt.
Russia no longer wants to just advance in certain areas, but is trying to take down "the whole front line, targeting logistics."
They will attack using any vehicle they can get their hands on, in a bid to "take Kramatorsk by the end of the year," he said.
The Russian motorbike units — dubbed "suicide squads" — are inflicting serious casualties across the front, Yevgen said.
'Trying our best'
Kyiv is trying to keep up, often relying on makeshift, cheap solutions developed by soldiers close to the front.
A Ukrainian armored vehicle with anti-drone netting at an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine earlier this month. |
AFP-jiji
Akademik, 28, has become a master of improvisation.
He drives a buggy, made of welded sheet metal, that has been fitted with signal jammers to intercept drones. It was manufactured in basements near the front line.
"We can get closer to the enemy than we can with heavy vehicles," he said.
"We are trying our best to fight back, but the enemy is also evolving," he said.
Troops from both sides closely follow what the others are doing — copying, countering and innovating to try to stay ahead.
Boroda is part of a team that has transformed a large agricultural drone into a cargo carrier to ferry food and medicine to the soldiers at the front, often stuck for weeks if troop rotations become too dangerous.
But such creativity will only go so far, he feared.
With Ukraine struggling to match Russia's surging military production, "more investment and more support from our Western partners" will be crucial to tipping the scales back in Ukraine's favor.
"If we get help, I think we will be more or less on a level playing field."