We flew drones over Ukraine’s fiercest battlefield. The past few months have revealed the limits of today’s drone warfare.

• Dimko Zhluktenko is a drone operator who provides vital data to defend Ukraine’s positions.

• The sergeant last deployed to Pokrovsk, a key battleground where Ukraine has declared itself outnumbered.

• He says Ukraine needs more than drones to stop Russia’s brutal advance.

This essay, as stated, is based on a conversation with Sgt. Dimko Zhluktenko, an ISR drone team leader in the Unmanned Forces of Ukraine. It was deployed in 2025 near Pokrovsk, a key city that Russia said it had captured in early December.

Business Insider verified his role in the Ukrainian armed forces. The article has been edited for length and clarity.

Before the full-scale war, I was a software engineer, working for companies in San Francisco, New Zealand, and Germany.

Today, I lead a team of five to six Ukrainian drone operators. Our job is to use high-flying drones to provide reconnaissance data to our troops and commanders.

With our intelligence, artillery such as HIMARS and drone strike teams can target Russian equipment and soldiers, often before they even reach the front lines.

We were redeployed to the Pokrovsk area in August because the fighting there had become so intense. Since drone operators are priority targets in war, we would spend our long-day rotations in houses and underground bunkers outside the city.

When we first arrived the weather was sunny and ideal for flying.

But the end of October was a disaster for us. Ukraine becomes foggy in autumn, with thick, low-lying clouds that can stack from 100 meters to 300 meters above the ground.

They are so thick that no infrared or thermal camera can see through them and it has made many days completely no fly for our types of drones.

At the time, the Russians took advantage of the clouds, using them to cover their advance on foot and in vehicles. Given the weather, the number of personnel they sacrificed to take the city, and our limited resources, in the end there was no viable way to defend Pokrovsk forever.

Ukraine is addicted to drone warfare. It took us through the terrible and scary times of these Russian attacks and changed the face of war. For the entire summer of 2025, for example, I only saw a tank twice on the battlefield.

Drones are cheap and effective, and if we had an infinite number of drones, we would be working 24/7 to fight the Russians in Pokrovsk.

But we don’t have infinite drones, so in the meantime we need other strike tools and resources, like more artillery fire and troops. War is complex, and drones cannot be its only solution.

Flying blind

Under normal conditions, we fly our drones four times a day, each flight lasting about three to four hours and sometimes well into the night. It’s tiring but worth it because you can make a huge difference to Ukrainian defenders. We can spot where Russian forces are moving, denying them the element of surprise, and look for assets like air defenses and artillery for commanders to hit.

Reconnaissance drone operators like us rely heavily on visual navigation. We study Pokrovsk so closely that even when our drone is spoofed, we can determine our flight location simply by the shape of the terrain or landmarks.

When foggy season rolls around, we try to make the most of any good visibility. Sometimes you can get lucky and make five flights in a five-day rotation.

However, there were days when we found ourselves sitting in a house just waiting for the weather to clear.

You can try flying below the clouds, but the lows mean our bulky drones are easier to spot and destroy. Since we have limited tools, we try to conserve them and not use them recklessly.

On windy days, however, there’s a chance the clouds will break slightly and give you a glimpse of the battlefield. Sometimes when visibility is bad but not impossible to work with, we have to risk flying in such weather, especially if our troops are defending against a major assault.

By late summer, the situation at Pokrovsk was becoming increasingly problematic, both on the ground and in the air. Back in the day, we’d help the long-range artillery focus on Russia’s rear.

By the fall, we were working with units that fought at close range.

The simple and brutal mathematics of Russia

I started to notice that Russia’s tactics were having an impact around September.

In the war zone, their strategy is to find our border and overwhelm it with the least number of soldiers needed to occupy our positions.

It’s simple math. Initially, they would send around 10 soldiers. If that wasn’t enough, they sent 20. Then they tried 30.

Day by day, they increase the number of troops and equipment. Their goal is to create a situation where we don’t have enough drones to counter the amount of attacking infantry.

To take out an assault of 50 guys, all scattered, we would need at least 150 drones and artillery, which is difficult for us to organize with our limited resources.

When I was working in Pokrovsk, there were already areas of the city where the Russians had advanced, so the battle zone was porous and undefined.

Ukraine needs more than drones

If we had more troops, we could have held out much longer and carried out more aggressive maneuvers.

If we had more reconnaissance drones, our team could fly over Pokrovsk non-stop, working despite the clouds.

With more first-person attack drones, our pilots could continue to find and attack the Russians closer to the ground.

But we don’t have enough. So we need other strike tools besides FPV drones even though they account for about 80% of our kills on the Russians.

Ironically, some of these tools have disappeared because warfare has changed so much. Mortars would have helped, but we’ve largely stopped using them – the battlefield is now so transparent that it’s a suicidal mission to go close to the front lines in a mortar truck.

What we definitely need is artillery ammunition. Last year, some HIMARS units I worked with were rationed to four strikes a week.

Other artillery units were limited to only three artillery shells per day. We’d find them a target and they’d say, “We don’t have any more for today. Sorry guys.”

This season’s weather means it’s still what drone pilots call “our down season.” At the same time, the ground is now not too muddy, so it is the perfect time for the Russians to attack.

This month, you are redeploying me to Dnipro. The fight continues.

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