Kostiantynivka, Ukraine
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The final lifeline to the besieged town along the eastern frontline of the Ukrainian army is increasingly caught up in deadly and sophisticated drone warfare nets, relying on technology, fishing nets from thousands of years ago.
The nets strung on poles along the roadside provide Ukrainian troops cover from Russian drones that often circulate deep into the territory as small, explosive devices become caught up in tough strings.
There is little of this low-tech defense against a more important high-tech threat than Kostiantinibka, one of the three frontline towns where Ukrainian troops are Russia’s summer offensive and rapidly transforming progressive profits into strategic advantages.
The Ukrainian commander defending the region told CNN that he had not received new units for eight months and had replenished only frontline positions.
Near Kostiantynivka, locals pass unsettled by the gaps they made on the net – their daily needs are more important than net protection – holes can be exploited by more skilled Russian drone operators. Sudnyi Den, an elite drone unit in Moscow, posts videos of the drone online, sometimes working in pairs. Footage from July 20th shows one drone attacking a Ukrainian SUV, another drone sitting on nearby gravel, waiting for another target.
According to officials from the city of Kostiantynivka, four civilians were killed and 31 injured last week due to the Russian strike. Children have been evacuated, and more than 8,000 civilians remain in the town itself.
That street is scattered with cars attacked by Russian drones last month when they reached the area of Russian advance. Even at the town’s safer edge, the white minivan was abandoned, and its passenger side was crumpled from a drone strike just hours before Saturday. The local governor said the vehicle driver was killed on Sunday despite the drone explosives not explosive.
Living nearby is not a fishing net, but a thin string entanglement that defines a fiber optic cable, rather than a fishing net used to prevent drones from being clogged. Russian and Ukrainian operators remain physically attached to several drones using thin glass wires of razors of dozens of kilometers.
Shuffling past the ruins is Tatiana, who is returning from her old house on the outskirts of town. “It’s heavy, it’s really heavy,” she said. “There’s no one on the street. I have no other place to go.”
Over the past week, Russian troops have moved southwest, within eight kilometres of the southeastern edge of the town, according to mappings by the Open Source Monitor Deep State. Maintaining progressive progress at the expense of large casualties has long been a hallmark of Moscow’s war effort, but simultaneous progress around the eastern towns of Pokrovsk and Kostiannibka, as well as further north, Kupiansk risks re-transforming the claims of the Donet region of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kostiantynivka’s central market is an oasis of activities that locals bust to gather food despite the risks of drones and artillery fire. Many people are reluctant to photograph their faces. This indicates that if the town is quickly occupied, you may be afraid to be labeled Proklenian. “Now they’re bombing us,” a reference to the fear that Russian troops use news footage to help target them said one elderly woman.
Another man who didn’t give his name, an Azerbaijani native who sells fruits, declared loudly, “glory to Ukraine” and “glory to heroes.” “What do you see?” he asked. “I’m not calm today. Of course I took a photo.”
The control of the sky is underground. Local commander Vasyl cleans up the banks of monitors in the underground room. The war is currently divided into two parts. Hunted by the dreaded frontline drones, the hunters themselves, drone operation bunkers and positions are frequently attacked by airstrikes. On the screen behind Vasyl, mushroom clouds are digging holes in the sky. It’s a Russian airstrike that is about to target Ukrainian operators.
His lasting problem is the people. For eight months, Vasil from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade has not been sent any new personnel. “We have a significant shortage of personnel. No one wants to fight. The war is over (for them).
The remaining infantry in Vasyl occasionally holds positions in pairs and is delivered food, water and ammunition in the semi-light of dawn or dusk when the larger Ukrainian vampire quadcopter drone can fly. “We’ll load up 10 kilograms of supplies,” he said. “And it flies 12-15 km carrying supply. Food, ammunition, batteries, radio station chargers.” The frontline position is so vulnerable to Russian drones that mortar teams often need to walk for hours on foot, Vasyl carries 30 kilograms of ammunition and equipment.
The commander said the new Russian drone team, known as the Rubicon unit, is a well-trained professional, sometimes another drone flying over a Ukrainian device, hanging tangled with the rotors to crash the Ukrainian drone.
Vasyl said there is inadequate communication from the frontline of the nature of the military issue. “A lot hasn’t been told, it’s hidden,” he said. “We don’t tell a lot to the states. Our state doesn’t tell a lot to people.”
“You need to be there to understand the situation,” he said. “When you say the situation is difficult, no one understands it. You have to be in our shoes. We are tired. Everyone is tired of this war.
