Commercial or military, powerful or small, Ukrainian drones have imposed themselves in the war against Russia, first contributing to the resistance of kyiv but then showing their limits, both strategic and operational, in the Donbass (East).
In the early days of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian skies were filled with remotely piloted aircraft assigned intelligence or combat missions. Of Chinese, Turkish, American manufacture or from Ukrainian shops, they weighed heavily in the army of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Turkish drone Bayraktar, or TB-2, a real star of the world market, shone during the battle of kyiv.
But this effectiveness is now questioned. The trench warfare in the Donbass, dominated by the rampage of artillery, complicates the role of drones. Paul Lushenko considers them to be “strategically ineffective” in interstate conflict, as opposed to asymmetric warfare between an army and an insurgency or terrorist group. Today, “the proliferation of drones (on the front) is exaggerated”, decides in this regard the American officer.