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

• Dimko Zhluktenko is a drone operator who provides vital data to defend Ukrainian positions.

• The sergeant was last deployed to Pokrovsk, a key battleground where Ukraine said it was outnumbered.

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

This essay as told to you is based on a conversation with Sgt. Dimko Zhluktenko, ISR drone team leader in the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine. It is deployed in 2025 near Pokrovsk, a major city that Russia said it 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 task 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 can reach the front lines.

We were redeployed to the Pokrovsk area in August because the fighting there had become so intense. Because drone operators are priority targets in the war, we spend our rotations during the days 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 surrounds the fog in the autumn, with thick and low clouds that can be mounted from 100 meters to 300 meters above the ground.

They are so thick that no infrared camera or thermal camera can see through them, causing many days to be a complete no-go for flying for our types of drones.

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

Ukraine is addicted to drone warfare. It took us through the terrible and terrifying times of these Russian attacks, and it changed the face of war. For the entire summer of 2025, for example, I saw a tank only 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, with each flight lasting around three to four hours and sometimes at night. It’s tiring, but worth it, because you can make a huge difference to the Ukrainian defenders. We can find where the Russian forces are moving, denying them the element of surprise, and explore assets such as air defenses and artillery for the commanders to strike.

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

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

However, there were days when we found ourselves sitting at home, waiting for the weather to clear.

You can try flying below the clouds, but going low means our clumsy drones are more easily spotted and destroyed. Since we have limited tools, we try to preserve them and not use them carelessly.

However, on windy days, there is a chance that the clouds may break slightly and give you a glimpse of the battlefield. Sometimes, when the 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 attack.

At the end of the summer, the situation in Pokrovsk was becoming increasingly problematic, both on the ground and in the sky. Back in the day, we were helping the long-range artillery focus on the Russian rear.

By the fall, we were working with close combat units.

Russia’s brutal and simple mathematics

I began to notice that Russia’s tactics were making an impact around September.

Around the war zone, their strategy is to find our limit and overcome it with the smallest number of soldiers necessary to seize our positions.

It’s simple math. In the beginning, they would send about 10 soldiers. If that wasn’t enough, they would send 20. Then they would try 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 eliminate an attack of 50 guys, all scattered, we need at least 150 drones and artillery, which is difficult for us to organize with our limited resources.

When we were working in Pokrovsk, there were already areas of the city where the Russians had advanced, so the fighting zone was porous and not defined.

Ukraine needs more than drones

If we had more troops, we could hold out much longer and do more aggressive maneuvers.

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

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

But we don’t have enough. Therefore, 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 might have helped, but we mostly stopped using them — the battlefield is now so transparent that it’s a suicidal mission to ride close to the front line in your pickup truck with a mortar.

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 would find them a target, and they would say: “We have no more for today. Sorry, guys.”

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

This month, I am deploying again to Dnipro. The fight continues.

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