Drones redefine warfare: Air battles shift Ukraine's front lines
Drones are changing the way war is waged in Ukraine, replacing traditional ground combat, reports the "Guardian".
The war in Ukraine has taken on a new dimension with the use of drones, which are increasingly replacing traditional ground combat. According to the "Guardian", Ukrainian soldiers note that "there are fewer ground battles because they are being replaced by fights that take place in the air with drones".
New combat strategy
"Front lines, previously separated by infantry positions, are now a few kilometres deep in a death zone where Ukrainian and Russian drones clash," writes the "Guardian". Denys, a Ukrainian soldier, recalls in an interview with the newspaper that back in 2022, "we were running with rifles and hiding behind trees. Now there is less shooting and more fighting against drones or with their help".
Ubiquity of drones
Despite ongoing artillery and mortar shelling, small drones with live feed (FPV) have become a key tool in this war. Unmanned aerial vehicles, capable of carrying about one kilogram of explosives, are used for both precision strikes and so-called swarm attacks. A Ukrainian soldier describes these actions as "artillery bombing by drones".
Denys describes how during battles near the city of Toretsk in Donbas, "we were dropping one kilogram of explosives on Russian positions every eight minutes for three hours, until the Russians retreated".
FPV drones move at speeds of about 65 km/h and are equipped with thermal cameras, allowing them to operate effectively at night. Their flight time is limited by battery life, and the effective range is about five kilometres. The "Guardian" emphasizes that learning to operate a drone requires "70 hours of flying in a simulator and 70 hours of training with the drone itself".
