Main victors so far are the fibreglass predators who bring death from above

UKRAINE is not fighting a land war so much as a drone war. And regardless of which side you are on, the drones appear to be winning.

- JOHN MARONE

“Drone warfare is 80% of the fighting at this point in the war, and it causes 80% of the casualties — if not more,” says Vlad, a Ukraine military drone pilot.

He is in a square in Kyiv on a sunny Sunday afternoon, surrounded by Russian drones shot down by his unit, the 24th Separate Mechanised Brigade, which has seen fierce fighting as it defends Chasiv Yar, which is in the Donetsk region.

Battles continue near this strategically important city located on Ukraine's sprawling eastern front.

That front line has moved westward — at the cost of Russian losses — in feet and yards.

But due to drones, the depth of the battlefield has grown greatly, creating a large expanse of territory between the opposing armies where you can be picked off by a humming fibreglass predator that appears out of nowhere.

Vlad says: “The kill zone has been expanded to 10km.”