"Two Russian soldiers emerged from the woods and walked slowly down a dirt road, seemingly unaware that they were being monitored from the sky. By the time they raised their rifles to fire at a buzzing Ukrainian drone, it was too late: The drone had dropped a bomb that exploded with a bright-orange flash on the ground between them. But as the smoke drifted clear, the soldiers got up and staggered into the trees. The first strike had failed."
"I watched all of this on a screen from a Ukrainian command post about 10 miles back from the front line. "We know the two wounded Russians are in those trees," said the Ukrainian commander alongside me, a powerfully built man of 39 who goes by the call sign YG. He didn't look happy. The Russians probe the front line every day in small groups, and his job is to stop them while doing all he can to protect his own, far more limited supply"
A drone strike near the front line failed to kill two Russian soldiers who fell into nearby trees, revealing the limits and utility of drones. A Ukrainian commander monitored the engagement from a command post about 10 miles behind the front and focused on stopping daily Russian probes while conserving scarce personnel. Ukraine is engaged in a war of attrition and faces a critical shortage of soldiers, yet retains a credible chance of achieving military objectives. Russian efforts to envelop a northeastern fortress belt have made little progress amid disruptions to pipelines and rear bases, and demands for voluntary cession were rejected.
Read at The Atlantic
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