By now probably everyone has understood that modern warfare is, above all, a war of resources. And based on the realities on the ground, we can draw an unambiguous conclusion that today’s main military resources are people — in particular infantry — and drones.
I, for one, believe Putin is counting on the fact that the West’s support for Ukraine will waver and the front will crumble, leaving our country without protection. He’s counting on Ukraine running out of ammunition for the Patriot air defense systems; on there not being enough shells for artillery, leaving the infantry exposed to break under pressure from the “liberators”; and on the F16 fighter jets not arriving in sufficient numbers, allowing Russia to maintain its dominance of the skies.
I have been fighting in Donbas for three years, now in the Pokrovsk direction. And, indeed, the situation is such that we’re losing cities: Avdiivka, Vugledar and Selydove were all lost this year, while Kostyantynivka, Chasiv Yar, Pokrovsk, Myrnograd, Toretsk and Kurakhovo are all under severe threat. And this means Russia currently has no incentive to stop hostilities.
Our trench intuition tells us there’s only one option if we are to end this war: We must create conditions so the enemy simply cannot succeed, that it cannot physically advance on Ukrainian soil. And as the deputy platoon commander of a brigade with units consistently among the Ukrainian army’s top ten in terms of destroyed equipment, I am sure this can be achieved — with the help of drones.
Drones have already significantly changed the course of the war. If everything functions smoothly, and reconnaissance drones transmit data to strike crews, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can strike anything. We’ve been able to drive away heavy enemy equipment 5 to 10 kilometers from the line of contact thanks to high accuracy — so fearful are the Russians, we hardly ever see columns of tanks being deployed on the battlefield as we did a year ago.
Today, Ukraine’s main battlefield problem is the enemy’s infantry. Small groups are attacking our positions in waves, and they’re doing it either at night or in bad weather, when drones are powerless. The UAV crews still have to figure out how to counter them in such conditions, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. The experience of this war shows we can adapt to new tactics and strategies quickly.
