Commercial or military, powerful or small, Ukrainian drones imposed themselves on the war against Russia, initially contributing to kyiv’s resistance, but in the Donbass (east) show both strategic and operational.

In the early days of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian skies were filled with long-range pilot aircraft for intelligence or combat missions. Made from stores in China, Turkey, the United States or Ukraine, they are overweight in the army of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky. The Turkish drone Bayraktar, or TB-2, the real star of the world market, shone during the kyiv war.

But this performance is now in question. Trench warfare in the Donbass is dominated by artillery frenzy, complicating the role of drones. Paul Lushenko considers them “strategically useless” in the conflict between states, against an asymmetrical war between an army and a rebel or terrorist group. Today, “the proliferation of drones (front) is exaggerated”, the US official concludes.