• The grinding, attritional war between Russia and Ukraine is now entirely dominated by drones. • Russia pummels Ukraine with long-range kamikaze aircraft and Ukraine knocks them out of the sky with specialised interceptors. • The front line has transitioned from an artillery battle to a first-person-view drone fight, while ground-based robots are increasingly used to deliver ammunition and supplies, launch attacks and evacuate the wounded. • As a result, in the four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has created from nothing an entire industry and ecosystem capable of designing, manufacturing and operating a variety of ingenious drones. • New Scientist was granted access to the pilot schools, labs and factories that are the engine room of this new industry - one that Kyiv hopes to make beneficial and profitable, selling expertise and devices to Western states, once the war is over. • Taras Ostapchuk’s sudden transition from civilian life to the military is a common story in Ukraine today.

Article Summaries:

  • The grinding, attritional war between Russia and Ukraine is now entirely dominated by drones. Russia pummels Ukraine with long-range kamikaze aircraft and Ukraine knocks them out of the sky with specialised interceptors. The front line has transitioned from an artillery battle to a first-person-view drone fight, while ground-based robots are increasingly used to deliver ammunition and supplies, launch attacks and evacuate the wounded. As a result, in the four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has created from nothing an entire industry and ecosystem capable of designing, manufa

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