Ukrainian Defense Against Russia's Offensive: Attacks and Challenges

Ukrainian Defense Against Russia's Offensive: Attacks and Challenges

Kostiantynivka, Ukraine – The last lifelines for the besieged towns on the Eastern Front of Ukrainian troops caught in a web of increasingly deadly and sophisticated drone warfare rely on a technology that is thousands of years old: a fishing net.

The nets are strung up on poles along the streets and provide the Ukrainian Troops protect themselves from Russian drones, which often circle deep in their territory while the small explosive devices get caught in the sturdy cords.

Vital protection through the simplest means

Few places need this low-tech protection against a high-tech threat more than Kostiantynivka, one of three frontline towns where Ukrainian forces are increasingly in danger Russian to be encircled during the summer offensive. These offensives turn incremental gains into strategic advantages.

A Ukrainian commander defending the area told CNN that he had not received any new soldiers for his unit in eight months and was only resupplying frontline positions - where a pair of soldiers sometimes fend off more than a dozen Russian attackers - with drones because vehicles would not reach the trenches.

Everyday life in the midst of war

Near Kostiantynivka, locals calmly pass through the gaps in the nets that they themselves have created - their everyday needs are more important than the protection provided by the nets. In doing so, they often leave spots that are exploited by the more skilled Russian drone operators. Moscow's elite drone unit, Sudnyi Den, has released videos of its drones inside the networks, sometimes acting in pairs. In footage from July 20, a drone attacks a Ukrainian military SUV while another films the impact while waiting on the gravel nearby to find another target.

Last week, four civilians were killed and 31 others were injured by Russian attacks, according to Kostiantynivka city officials. The children were evacuated and just over 8,000 civilians remained in the city.

The humanitarian situation on site

The city's streets are littered with cars hit by Russian drones as the city came within range of advancing Russian forces last month. Even on the safer edge of town, a white minivan sits abandoned, its passenger side crushed by a drone strike hours earlier. The driver of the vehicle was killed, the local governor said Sunday, even though the drone's explosives did not detonate.

Nearby lies a mesh of thin wire that now defines war - not fishing net, but fiberglass, used to prevent jamming of drones. Russian and Ukrainian operators are using dozens of kilometers of these razor-sharp glass wires to physically attach themselves to some drones. These cables extend over large parts of the battlefield and allow operators to control the devices directly, despite any interference.

Despair and hope in everyday life

As Tatiana, returning from her old home on the outskirts of the city, shuffles past the ruins, she has fed her dog and collected some personal items. “It’s hard there, really hard,” she says. "No one is on the streets. I have nowhere else to go."

In the past week, according to the open-source monitor DeepState, Russian forces have advanced to within eight kilometers of the city's southeastern edges and to the southwest. The gradual continuation of this progress at a high cost in human life has characterized Moscow's war commitment for years. But simultaneous advances around the eastern cities of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka and further north Kupiansk could risk regrouping the front line for Russian President Vladimir Putin and strengthening his claim to Ukraine's Donetsk region, a key target.

The fight for control of air sovereignty

The central market in Kostiantynivka remains an oasis of activity, where locals busily search for food despite the threat of drone and artillery attacks. Many are hesitant to allow themselves to be filmed, suggesting they fear being branded pro-Ukrainian if the city were to be occupied soon. “Now they are going to bomb us,” said an older woman, referring to fears that Russian forces were using intelligence footage to target.

Another man, who did not want to give his name and is from Azerbaijan, where he sells fruit, loudly shouted "Glory to Ukraine" and "Glory to Heroes," pro-Ukrainian slogans. “What do you see?” he asks. "There's no peace today. Shots, of course."

Challenges and lack of staff

Control over the airspace is exercised underground. Vasyl, a local commander, monitors a bank of monitors in his basement. The war is now divided into two factions: those hunted by drones on the brutal front lines, and the hunters themselves, whose drone operating bunkers and positions are often hit by airstrikes. On the screen behind Vasyl, a nuclear mushroom cloud forms the sky - a Russian airstrike attempting to target Ukrainian operators.

His ongoing problem is people: Vasyl, from the 93rd mechanized brigade, has not received any new soldiers for eight months. "We have a critical shortage of personnel. Nobody wants to fight. The war is over (for them). The old soldiers have stayed, they are tired and want to be replaced, but no one is replacing them."

The new generation of drone fighters

Vasyl's remaining infantry sometimes hold positions in pairs, receiving food, water and ammunition in the semi-darkness of dusk when the larger Ukrainian Vampire quadcopter drones can fly. “We load 10 kilograms of supplies,” he says. “And it flies 12-15 kilometers to transport supplies: food, ammunition, batteries, chargers for radio stations.” The frontline positions are so vulnerable to Russian drones that Mortar teams often have to walk for many hours to carry 30 kilograms of ammunition and equipment, Vasyl said.

The commander said newer Russian drone teams, known as the Rubicon Unit, are well-trained and professional. Sometimes they even use just a thread dropped from another drone flying over a Ukrainian device to get caught in its rotors and cause the Ukrainian drone to crash.

The communication problems

Vasyl reported that poor communication about the military problems at the front was a serious issue. “Many things are not communicated and are hidden,” he said. "We don't communicate a lot of things to our state. Our state doesn't communicate a lot of things to the people."

“To understand the situation, you have to be in it,” he said. "When we say that the situation is difficult, no one understands it. You have to stand in our shoes. We are tired. Everyone is tired of this war, and I believe that other countries are also tired of helping us."