It is a war of drones now How the ever-evolving tech is changing tactics in Ukraine

How the ever-evolving tech is changing tactics in Ukraine

- Dan Sabbagh

"It's more exhausting," says Afer, a deputy commander of the "Da Vinci Wolves," describing how one of the best known battalions in Ukraine has to defend against constant Russian attacks.

Where once the Russian invaders might have tried small group assaults with armoured vehicles, now the tactic is to try to sneak through on foot one by one, evading frontline Ukrainian drones.

Under what little cover remains, survivors then try to gather a group of 10 or so and attack Ukrainian positions. It is costly - "in the last 24 hours we killed 11," Afer says - but the assaults that previously might have happened once or twice a day are now relentless. To the Da Vinci commander the Russians must be terrified of their officers to follow near suicidal orders.

Reconnaissance drones monitor a burnt-out tree line west of Pokrovsk; the images come through to Da Vinci's command centre in a 130-metre underground bunker.

"It's very dangerous to have even a small break on watching," Afer says, and the team works round the clock. The bunker, built in four or five weeks, contains several rooms, including a barracks for sleep and an army mess with children's drawings, reminders of family. The menu for the week is on the wall.