So it's about 5am we're heading out to some positions
here near Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast.
Throughout this year through summer, autumn and, and now
the beginning of winter, Russia's most intense attacks
and quickest gains have been further south in Donetsk oblast which
has gained a lot of attention. But in the meantime they've also upped
their offensive efforts here in Kupyansk, an area which
was actually liberated back by Ukrainian troops in autumn
2022. Now they're on the offensive and we're heading out with
one of the country's crack drone teams,
the Achilles battalion who are taking charge of
fighting off these Russian assaul in the area.
As soon as the morning twilight hits the snowy fields, Russian soldiers
are spotted in the treeline. The team wastes no time getting to
work.
It doesn't take long before the first drone of the day spots its prey and
closes in with
trees and bushes in the way. It's not an easy task.
So now we have a bit more information. It was a about six Russian soldiers
in that forest moving around trying to get from one
position to the next and straight
away they flew straight out, found the
guy and you can see this kind of cat and mouse game where this drone
is hunting the Russian soldier who's peeking around
a tree like in a child's game or something like that. It seems
like that first drone, even though they came right up to
the soldier and didn't go off, but straight
away they're like okay, we go again, we go again.
No, this is a nice. Every member of this team has
a distinct job. The pilot scuba flies the drone,
Strelok prepares the copter and arms the munition.
Always in touch with base skid, the navigator holds
it all together.
These are first person view kamikaze drones designed
and armed for a one way flight.
When they first showed up on the battlefield they were used mostly for engaging
high value targets like armored vehicles.
Now with both sides scaling up production, there are more
than enough of them to hunt down individual soldiers.
Not long after, some damaged equipment is spotted in the field.
Two armored vehicles, both protected by makeshift anti drone
grates and sheet metal. To deliver the final blow,
Scuba must find the chinks in the armor.
Dudam no,
not so much, not. The boat is switched.
So it's now about 10:30 in the morning and this
team of four has just been working non stop. They said
it's been the first time in quite a few weeks that the
Russians have attacked with armored vehicles. They had two an MTLB
and a BMP that came in, and very quickly they hit some anti
tank mines and they were attacked by bomber drones. But the infantry
that they were carrying got out and started moving forward.
The next job, after the infantry scattered, was to finish
off those armored vehicles. And as you could see, they were protected by these big
nets and big sheets of metal that the Russians have put on them,
which actually can work pretty well against FPV drones.
But for a really experienced team like this, it's just another challenge.
Across the front line, drone warfare is developing at a dizzying
pace and is set to transform the way wars are fought forever.
For those at the very frontier, though, they try and stay focused on their work.
After lunch, more Russians are spotted, this time
in an open field with nowhere to run or hide.
Sniper.
In a stroke of luck that extends his life for a while,
one Russian soldier manages to shoot down a couple of drones with his rifle.
For the last 10 minutes, he shut down three FPV
drones. So I think this,
this is kind of professional. One stop.
For the soldier lying wounded in the field, though his journey into Ukraine with
an invading army is drawing quickly to its end.
Mashik, my stirring.