“I flew drones on the hottest front in Ukraine.” A soldier's testimony about the limits of Ukrainian defense

Sergeant Dimko Jluktenko, the leader of a drone team within the Unmanned Systems Forces, gave Business Insider a testimonial to the effectiveness of drones on a battlefield marked by the war's toughest battles. Jluktenko flies fixed-wing drones, providing Ukrainian troops and commanders with vital information ahead of attacks.

photo epa-efe

Dimko Jluktenko fought near Pokrovsk, a key city in the Donetsk region that Russia said it captured in early December.

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

Today, I manage a team of five to six drone operators. Our job is to use high-altitude drones to deliver information to our troops and commanders.

With the help of our intelligence, artillery such as HIMARS and drone strike teams have the ability to target Russian equipment and soldiers, often before they reach the front lines.

We were redeployed to the Pokrovsk area in August, as the fighting there increased in intensity. Since drone operators are prime targets in war, we used to shelter in houses and underground bunkers outside the city for days at a time.

When we got there, the weather was sunny and ideal for flying.

But the end of October was disastrous for us. Autumn is foggy in Ukraine, dense low clouds cover the sky – nothing can be seen between 100 and 300 meters above the ground.

In their presence, no infrared or thermal camera can see, so for days it was impossible to fly our drones.

During that time, the Russians took advantage of the clouds to cover their advance on foot and in vehicles. Considering these weather conditions, the number of people they sacrificed to capture the city, and our limited resources, we had no viable way to defend Pokrovsk.

Ukraine is addicted to drone warfare. They helped us get through the most horrific periods of these Russian attacks and changed the face of the war. For example, during the summer last year, I think I only saw a tank about twice on the battlefield.

Drones are cheap and effective, and if we had unlimited numbers, we'd be working around the clock to take on the Russians in Pokrovsk.

But the reality is that we don't have infinite numbers, so we need other tools and resources to attack, such as artillery fire and troops. War is complex, and drones cannot be the only solution.

Flying blind

Under normal conditions, we do reconnaissance flights four times a day, each flight lasting about three to four hours, sometimes until the middle of the night. It's tiring but worth it because we can make a huge difference to Ukrainian defenders. We can see where the Russian forces are moving, lacking the element of surprise, and scavenge for equipment such as air defenses and artillery for commanders to hit.

We drone operators tasked with reconnaissance missions rely heavily on visual navigation. We study Pokrovsk so thoroughly that even when our drone is jammed, we can determine its location simply by the appearance of the terrain or other landmarks.

In the foggy season, we try to make the most of any window of visibility. Sometimes we get lucky and fly five flights in a five-day rotation.

However, there were days when I simply waited for the sky to clear.

We can also try to fly in an overcast sky, but if we fly low, our bulky drones become easy to spot and destroy. Since we have limited means, we try to conserve them and not act recklessly.

However, on windy days, there is a chance that the clouds will dissipate quickly and we can get good images of the battlefield. Sometimes when visibility is low, it doesn't make our job impossible, we have to risk flying in such weather, especially when our troops are facing a major attack.

By late summer, the situation at Pokrovsk was becoming increasingly problematic, both on the ground and in the air. Once, I was supporting the long-range artillery to focus on the Russian rear.

In the fall, I was working with units that were fighting at close range.

Russia's brutally simple math

I started to notice Russia's tactics making an impact around September.

Throughout the war zone, their strategy is to identify our limitations and overwhelm us with the least number of soldiers necessary to occupy our positions.

It's simple math. Initially, they were sending around 10 soldiers. If it wasn't enough, they would send 20. Then they would try to send 30.

Day after day, they increase the number of troops and equipment. Their goal is to create a situation where we no longer have enough drones to counter assault infantry.

To prevent an attack from 50 rogues, we would need at least 150 drones and artillery, which is difficult to organize with our limited resources.

When we were operating in Pokrovsk, there were already areas of the city where the Russians had advanced, so the battle zone was porous and without defined boundaries.

Ukrainian soldiers need 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, we would not be stopped by clouds.

Equipped with a larger number of FPV attack drones, our pilots would continue to hunt down and attack the Russians closer to the ground.

But we don't have them. So we would need other attack tools besides FPV drones, even though they account for about 80% of the casualties among the Russians.

It is ironic, but some of these means have disappeared precisely because warfare has undergone so many transformations. Mortars might have been helpful, but we've largely stopped using them – the battlefield has become so transparent that it's a suicidal mission to walk close to the front lines in a truck carrying a mortar.

What we need above all is artillery ammunition. Last year, some HIMARS units I worked with were rationalizing it: no more than four attacks per week.

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

The winter season is nicknamed by drone pilots the “off season”. At the same time, the terrain is not so muddy anymore – a perfect time for the Russians to attack.

This month, they redeploy me to Dnipro. The fight continues.