Ukraine is depending on drones to counter Russian progress. Frontline soldiers are bracing for the worst

The Russian offensive, captured in grainy footage from various drones, is unyielding and occurs daily. Aging armored vehicles speed across a scarred battlefield. In broad daylight, one tank is targeted and halted by Ukrainian attack drones. However, two vehicles manage to reach the treeline, where they offload Russian troops seeking refuge in the sparse winter foliage. Moments later, additional drones engage the isolated dismounts.

Another tank, sustaining damage from its initial advance, pushes through the treeline ahead. It emerges into the next open field, with some troops seemingly clinging to its damaged exterior. The scene, marked by its brutality, is disturbingly intimate, despite the fact that the events unfold approximately 10 miles away.

As the tank traverses halfway across the next field, a swarm of single-use drones targets it once more, causing it to slow and come to a smoking stop. Despite the casualties inflicted during each assault, Ukrainian forces express frustration, noting that for every Russian soldier eliminated, another ten appear to reinforce the advance.

Ukraine struggles to match Moscow’s troop numbers or its willingness to sustain losses, which Western officials estimate at up to 1,200 dead or injured daily along the frontlines. The manpower shortage has been acutely felt in Pokrovsk for weeks, as soldiers on the eastern front relay to CNN, and Moscow’s brutal strategies continue to yield consistent results.

“The situation is extremely critical,” stated East, the callsign of a commander in a drone unit with Ukraine’s 15th National Guard operating near Pokrovsk. “We are short on infantry to sustain our defense while the drones carry out their missions. This often leads to scenarios where the enemy can penetrate our vulnerable positions with little resistance.”

Troops stationed in Pokrovsk have reported severe manpower shortages, raising concerns that Russia could achieve a significant breakthrough. They expressed frustration over the necessity to deploy drones against advancing Russian forces due to a lack of infantry available for direct confrontation.

One commander noted that Selydove, a strategic town near Pokrovsk captured by Russia in October, was defended by merely six Ukrainian positions, which he estimated involved around 60 soldiers. These troops were quickly surrounded, outnumbered, and ultimately forced to retreat, suffering considerable losses.

It is uncommon for Ukrainian soldiers to openly criticize their commanders or candidly evaluate the situation at the front when speaking to reporters. However, several soldiers in the Pokrovsk area provided a sobering perspective on the ongoing Russian offensive and their own outlook for the coming months.

The impending presidency of Donald Trump has created some unease among the troops, who are cautious not to offend the future U.S. commander-in-chief while also worrying about the implications for their struggle. “I will be careful with my words,” remarked one soldier. Another expressed concern that a peace initiative following Trump’s inauguration might arrive too late.

“I cannot specify how much time we have left, if any,” stated Kashei, a reconnaissance sniper from the 15th National Guard. “Currently, they are pushing their forces to the front lines as much as possible. Eventually, they will launch a full-scale assault. They can advance rapidly, even within a single day.”

“The enemy is making progress because there are insufficient defenders on the ground,” he added. “There is a significant risk that those who are sent to hold the line may not return.”

The drone team reviews their video archive from the tumultuous and expensive withdrawals of recent weeks. One clip captures the moment when three Ukrainian soldiers enter a factory in Selydove, having been informed it is under Ukrainian control, only for one of them to be shot by Russian forces occupying the site.

Another segment features a Ukrainian drone unit defending a village, largely without infantry support, surrounded by Russian troops. The footage reveals a Russian soldier concealed nearby as the unit launches a drone—typically deployed several kilometers ahead—just 30 meters away to target the advancing Russians.

Recruitment presents its own challenges. According to one commander, the defense of Selydove was reinforced by 300 new recruits sent directly to the front lines, expected to receive basic training in the trenches. Several soldiers reported an increase in command errors, recounting an incident where a unit of Ukrainian soldiers was attacked by drones on the front line after two commanders mistakenly failed to recognize them.

While mistakes are a common occurrence amid the chaos and terror of battle, such transparency is unusual from troops who, a year ago, would have expressed unwavering pride in Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive in Russia’s Kursk region.

“I have no people. I’m completely alone. I’m utterly exhausted,” stated Kotia, a reconnaissance sniper from the 15th National Guard. “I love my job, but we need more young people to embrace this role as well. Our country is alert, but its people are not. Lives are being lost here. This is unacceptable.”

The potential for peace negotiations to commence with Trump’s inauguration in January offers little reassurance. “Halting this conflict is a double-edged sword,” Kotia remarked. “Do we surrender the territory for which my comrades sacrificed their lives, or do we continue to reclaim it and risk losing even more friends? If these two aging leaders (Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin) engage in a power struggle, Ukraine will find itself caught in the crossfire. That scenario would be far from favorable.”

East, the drone commander, noted that he was deployed to the region in August. “Since then, we have not visited the training grounds or reinforced our personnel,” he explained. The Russians, on the other hand, are consistently staffed and trained, with regular rotations and personnel replenishment. We frequently intercept communications indicating that they have replacements and ongoing rotations.

The severity of the Russian offensive against Pokrovsk is evident from multiple fronts. One Russian advance is directed southward, towards the smaller town of Kurakhove, where the remaining Ukrainian forces risk being encircled by a Russian “pincer” maneuver from both the south and north.

Other Russian units are rapidly advancing towards Pokrovsk itself, with infantry squads, sometimes consisting of only a handful of soldiers, probing into villages in search of weaknesses in Ukraine’s increasingly vulnerable defenses. A commander informed CNN that troops in the Pokrovsk area have been instructed to shoot unidentified individuals on sight, out of concern for advancing Russian reconnaissance teams.

The harshness of the Russian offensive is also taking a toll on morale. A drone video that has circulated shows a small house on the outskirts of Petrivka, a village near Pokrovsk, captured on November 13. The footage depicts a local in an orange shirt directing advancing Russian troops to a basement where Ukrainian soldiers were hiding.

One by one, the Ukrainians are brought out into the open and compelled at gunpoint to lie face down. The video then shows one soldier apparently firing at the subdued Ukrainians, with one soldier’s leg twitching in response to the gunfire.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general announced on Tuesday the initiation of an investigation into the incident, characterizing it as “a war crime coupled with premeditated murder.” The statement emphasized that “the occupiers, in breach of international humanitarian law, used automatic weapons to shoot Ukrainian prisoners. The execution of prisoners of war constitutes a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions and is regarded as a significant international crime.”