Ukrainian soldiers say they're having to abandon vehicles and hike for miles to the front lines thanks to exploding Russian drones

Soldiers at the training ground calibrate their machine guns after going into combat on January 9, 2024, in Lyman district, Ukraine. Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images

• Ukrainian soldiers are moving forward on foot, abandoning their vehicles due to drone threats.
• Troops told The New York Times that Russian exploding drones are  ever-present and deadly. 
• One brigade hiked for miles through rain and mud to get ammo and food to troops. 

Ukrainian soldiers say they are often being forced to move and fight on foot due to the ever-present threat of exploding drones.

Ukrainian troops say Russia is turning up the heat and no vehicle is safe from devastating one-way attack drones. Russian forces have had similar problems.

Ukrainian soldiers told The New York Times that defending and supplying front line forces is riskier than ever because of the increase in Russian first-person-view (FPV) drone strikes.

These drones are used by both sides, tend to be very cheaply made using hobby-style drones equipped with an explosive, and are piloted by operators miles away from potential targets.

Because these drones can conduct one-way attacks, resulting in devastating explosions, or, in some cases, drop bombs on unsuspecting targets, “it is extremely dangerous to go by car,” a Ukrainian National Guardsman told the NYT.

He said for the past few months, men of his unit had been leaving their armored vehicles behind and walking six miles to positions on the front line. “You can only go in on foot,” he added.

Men of the 117th Brigade in the Zaporizhzhia region faced an unpleasant four-mile hike in the rain and mud, the NYT said. If they took their vehicles to drive ammunition or food to the front line, Russia’s drones could attack from above.

That’s not to say moving on foot is exactly safe, either. FPV drones have easily tracked and targeted soldiers on the ground, as documented by many videos and photos shared throughout the war.

A view of a drone during the testing of new military equipment, including FPV drones, by soldiers from the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade on the training area amid Russia-Ukraine war in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on August 03, 2023. Wojciech Grzedzinski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Drones have significantly shaped the war in Ukraine, with both sides relying on UAVs and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to conduct reconnaissance and attacks.

For Ukraine, which is facing dwindling ammunition stockpiles and drying US aid, drones are a cheap and easy alternative to firing artillery. Should one malfunction due to jamming or get shot down, skilled operators, often flying the drones from positions far away from the front line, can simply send another one out.

And in some ways, drones can be more effective than artillery. They are like improvised explosive devices that chase down the targets, which can be anything from a single soldier to tanks.

Russia reaps similar benefits from its arsenal of drones, some of which range from loitering munitions built to military specifications to cheaper options built by private defense outfits. Ukraine, likewise, has state-backed efforts and private operations.

Soldiers told the NYT that while Ukraine was the first to really capitalize on the impacts drone can have on the battlefield, Russia has recently copied their tactics at a greater scale and to a lethal effect.

FPV drones can be produced in large quantities for asymmetric warfare against more expensive targets like tanks. They can have an outsized effect on the battlefield, threatening anyone and anything that moves — effectively turning sectors of the front line into a kind of no man’s land for vehicles, which make easy and large targets.