PUBLISHED on August 6, 2025, 16:09 PM EST – Key Points and Summary – Ukrainian forces are increasingly relying on a “wall of UAVs” to hold their defensive lines against Russia, according to a recent embedded report with a frontline drone battalion.
Soldiers on the ground state that unmanned systems have become a “critically important component” of the war, taking over the traditional roles of artillery, infantry, and reconnaissance.
To counter massive Russian drone swarms in a cost-effective manner, Ukraine is also investing heavily in developing inexpensive interceptor drones, which serve as a sustainable alternative to expensive Western air defense missiles and help conserve its limited missile supply.
Inside a Ukrainian Drone Battalion
The Russia-Ukraine war has been increasingly fought in recent months using drones. Russia has continually rained drones down on Ukrainian cities, while Ukraine has fired back, including in a major attack in early June.
The Kyiv Post, for a story published this week, embedded with a Ukrainian drone battalion, attempting to protect their nation using a “wall of UAVs.”
“Ukrainian forces increasingly rely on drones to hold their defensive lines. A drone team from the brigade’s Unmanned Systems Battalion conducts first-person view (FPV) bombing missions. On most days, they launch more than a dozen drones throughout the day, targeting enemy soldiers before they can breach defensive lines,” the Post story says.
The unit, protecting Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, is part of a “wider chain” across the war’s front.
Bohdan, a soldier who is part of the battalion, called UAVs a key part of Ukraine’s defense.
“Unmanned systems have become a critically important component in the war against Russia,” Bohdan, a soldier in the battalion, told Kyiv Post. “Drones enable reconnaissance – both close and long-range – fire correction, mining operations, delivery of supplies and ammunition, and strikes.”
“Without exposing operators to direct danger, drone operators have partially taken over the roles of sappers, artillery, infantry, reconnaissance troops, and drivers,” he added.
At one point in the story, the Kyiv Post reporter states that the Ukrainian forces had managed to intercept Russian communications and learned that commanders had promised their soldiers extra vacation time if they reached Ukraine’s position.
“We’re holding on with everything we have,” Andriy, another soldier, said. “They’re taking land, but at such a cost that no army can afford it. They’re losing a tremendous number of troops.”
The Starlink Effect
One thing reported in the story: Both sides in the war “rely heavily on Starlink,” for organizing their operations.
“Most of them use Starlink,” Bohdan told the Post. “But sometimes they rely on relay setups, modems with signal boosters placed kilometers apart.”
Starlink, which is a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s Space X, had been made available to the Ukrainian side in the early months of the war, although there were arguments in 2022 over whether that coverage would extend to Crimea.
In 2024, it was reported that Russia had obtained access to some Starlink terminals, but that the Pentagon had begun to block that usage.
Betting on Drones
Reuters reported earlier this week that President Volodymyr Zelensky said in July that Ukraine needed $6 billion to “ fund the production of interceptor drones,” with a goal of 1,000 a day.
Drones, the Reuters report said, “have gone from an auxiliary tool to one of the primary means of waging war for both sides.
Charities have stepped up, including one that claims their devices have downed 1,500 Russian drones.
“Such interceptors have the potential to be a cheap, plentiful alternative to using Western or Soviet-made air defence missiles, depleted by allies’ inability, or reluctance, to replenish them,” Reuters reported. “Colonel Serhiy Nonka’s 1,129th air defence regiment, which started using them a year ago to ram and blow up enemy drones, estimated that they could down a Russian spotter drone at about a fifth of the cost of doing so with a missile.”
The use of drones also helps to conserve Ukraine’s limited supply of missiles.
“Colonel Serhiy Nonka’s 1,129th air defence regiment, which started using them a year ago to ram and blow up enemy drones, estimated that they could down a Russian spotter drone at about a fifth of the cost of doing so with a missile,” per the Reuters report.
“As a result, the depth to which these enemy reconnaissance drones can fly behind Ukrainian lines has decreased sharply, Nonka said.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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