After rapid growth, Ukraine has become a world leader in the field of unmanned systems.
Four and a half years after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tanks to capture Kyiv, the war in Ukraine has moved from the ground to the sky, turning into a battle of drones, writes Luke Harding in an article in The Guardian. UNIAN reports, the PromPolitInform portal informs.
The article notes that this struggle – unprecedented in the history of military art – is characterized by technology, innovation and rapid development.
Since 2022, Russia has been carrying out attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns every night. It launches Iranian-made Shahed drones, as well as ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
The author acknowledges that these attacks have intensified since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.
“The missiles rain down indiscriminately, killing families in their apartments and other civilians in a targeted campaign of terror,” the article notes.
Ukraine, once a recipient of Western aid, has responded by building up its own military-industrial base. After rapid growth, the country has become a world leader in the field of unmanned systems.
The drones launched last week towards Crimea were reportedly manufactured in Kyiv by a startup specializing in defense technology. Representatives of this company are involved in combat operations.
In 2026, Ukrainian drones launched strikes on Moscow and Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg, embarrassing the Russian president and making ordinary citizens who had previously ignored the war realize its reality.
“I think Putin is afraid. One of the justifications he gave for his war was to prevent Ukraine from [potentially] bombing Moscow. Now this is happening as a direct result of his actions,” said a Ukrainian commander with the 414th Unmanned Systems Brigade, “Birds of the Magyar,” who goes by the call sign Rey.
Rey said that every time one of his drones rose into the moonlit sky, heading for enemy territory, he felt “revenge and justice.”
“We didn’t start this war. We have no choice. We are fighting for our independence, for our people, for the memory of those who died, and for our future. This is a struggle between slaves and free people,” the military officer said.
The article notes that the well-organized drone operation in Ukraine is shrouded in secrecy:
“The target is identified by the analytical department. Western partners provide some intelligence, but most of it is open sources. The coordinates are given to the drone crews at the last minute. So far, none of those participating in the launches have been injured or killed, despite Moscow’s attempts to identify and blow up the launch sites.”
Since last week, the brigade has been setting fire to warehouses owned by Wildberries, a Russian equivalent of Amazon, destroying at least nine of them. Ukraine claims that the company sells military products.
It points out that Russia’s vast size, once a strategic advantage, has become a weakness. According to Brovdy, the panic-stricken Kremlin has moved “a certain amount” of air defenses from the front lines to protect Moscow.
It adds that there is currently so little fuel in Crimea that Russian military units are sometimes unable to refuel and launch drones. Power outages are also common.
“The operation is endless. There will be a chain reaction. We will continue to apply this pressure. They will think about survival, not offensive operations,” one of the brigade fighters with the call sign Schweik shared with the publication.
At the same time, the author of the article noted that not all Ukrainian drones reach their targets. According to Ray, about a third of them go astray over occupied territory. He admitted that the losses in the skies over Russia are much higher.
However, Ukraine’s strategy of putting pressure on the Russian economy seems to be paying off.
“The troops and resources must be exhausted so that it becomes impossible for them to continue the war,” Brovdy explained.
The commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces acknowledged that Russian troops are still advancing in the eastern Donbas region, where fighting is ongoing in the city of Kostyantynivka.
“Their achievements today do not justify the price they are paying for them. At this pace, with their intention to seize half of Ukraine, do they plan to fight for 100 years?” he noted.
The role of drones in the war
Earlier it was reported that Ukrainian border guards intercepted a Russian reconnaissance drone ZALA Z-20 at an altitude of 6,858 meters, which became a new record. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine explained that the enemy deliberately launches these drones at such an altitude to make them unreachable. However, as the department emphasized, this did not become an obstacle for the STING operators of the 105th border detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
