By Olha Hembik | 2025-02-25

WARSAW -- Ukraine, aware that it is significantly outnumbered in the war against Russia, is prioritizing cost-effective and innovative weaponry such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and first-person view (FPV) drones to help level the battlefield, military analysts say.

"To some extent, cheap FPV drones help reduce the stunning advantage the adversary has in personnel," Yevhen Dikiy, a former company commander of the Aidar battalion and a veteran of the Russia-Ukrainian war, said February 10 on Radio NV.

Maintaining the advantage

Ukraine's long-range drones diminish the Russian forces' capabilities every day as they affect the adversary's combat effectiveness, logistics and economy, according to observers.

About 200,000 FPV drones per month will be supplied to the Ukrainian military this year, Ukrainian First Deputy Minister of Defense Ivan Havryliuk said February 9 on the ministry's YouTube channel.

Currently, holding the front depends to a large extent on FPV drones, he said.

Russian forces also are using drones to maintain their advantage on the battlefield and are increasingly employing Molniya attack drones. These are FPV drones with a range greater than 30km, the BBC reported January 25.

"I've been on the front since 2014, and I've seen firsthand on the battlefield how the enemy's military-industrial complex has developed, and I've compared it to how we're developing," said Vitalii Lytvyn, a Hero of Ukraine, which is the military's highest honor.

Enemy drones on the frontline have always caused problems, Lytvyn, who also commands a field artillery intelligence division in the Ukrainian National Guard, told Kontur.

"I worked as an intelligence officer and then as commander of an intelligence platoon, and whenever I advanced to positions, I was worried that I could be hit by an FPV drone or another enemy drone," he said.

"You won't reach the enemy, you won't even see it, or how you're killed."

To combat the drone threat, Ukrainian manufacturer KVERTUS developed and is implementing a project called Atlas.

Frontline drone defense

The creators of Atlas call it a "revolutionary electronic ecosystem that is in position to significantly affect the situation on the front," Interfax-Ukraine reported January 29.

The goal is to create a comprehensive anti-drone defense along the entire frontline, which stretches around 1,300km.

According to an introductory video by KVERTUS, Atlas brings together two developments.

The KVERTUS MS Azimuth detection system finds all sources of radio waves: drones and electronic warfare, as well as communication and telecom equipment. It has a range of up to 30km.

The KVERTUS LTEJ Mirage tactical electronic warfare device "operates based on the principle of optimal jamming, according to the manufacturer's website. It interferes with drone control at the level of the data exchange protocol, so it is much more effective than conventional electronic warfare devices.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is backing the project.

"This is a whole electronic reconnaissance and warfare system that works like a single organism with multilevel access," said KVERTUS CEO Yaroslav Filimonov.

"Before Atlas, the majority of our inventions dealt with local challenges and they operated at the local level," he told Kontur. "So now this is a real breakthrough. In terms of scan rate, the project has already surpassed its counterparts in the world."

"When it's in automated mode with remote control, it can offer an advantage on the battlefield," he said.

Saving lives, equipment

Through the systems, the Atlas devices can find and neutralize a large number of drones with different control frequencies.

"The connection between the jammer and the sensing system is important," said Lytvyn of the National Guard. "We can understand when our drone is flying, we can create a 'flyover zone' and unobstructed flight for it, and consequently, we can do our job efficiently."

"In other words, we're saving not only lives but also equipment."

The new creations are already being tested on the battlefield.

"Our brigade is carrying out missions all along the combat line, all along the front and beyond, in Kursk province, [Russia]," Lytvyn said. "The Azimuth and Mirage devices are also being used, and they've proven themselves rather effectively."

A service member can control any number of KVERTUS LTEJ Mirage tactical electronic warfare devices on the battlefield, he said. An operator can independently decide to neutralize an enemy drone.

The devices cooperate and are coordinated in such a way that they help avoid friendly fire from drones, he said.

The total cost of the Atlas project is estimated at 5.142 billion UAH (€118.3 million), and the Ukrainian business community is involved in fundraising.

Russia's 'human safari'

The threat that Ukraine is trying to defuse can be seen in Kherson, where Russian forces terrorize civilians with drones.

"We need protection. The city isn't living. It's scary to go out -- you never know where or when a drone is going to fly," said Iryna Kletkina, who works for the Kherson River civilian shipping fleet.

"People are out walking, and [the Russians] follow them from drones and drop munitions on whoever is out," she told Kontur. "We've already lost so many doctors, healthcare workers, utility workers. But [residents] continue to live in these coastal areas, like Antonivka and Kindiika."

Locals describe Russia's use of drone-dropped munitions in Kherson as a "human safari."

Between July and October 2024, Kherson city's military administration recorded more than 5,000 Russian drone attacks, BBC News reported October 31. The Kyiv Post, meanwhile, called Russia's drone warfare in Kherson a "sadistic human safari," citing 3,000 incidents in September alone.

The Center for Information Resilience (CIR) verified 88 such incidents and found that a majority targeted people who appeared to be civilians, non-military vehicles and even dogs, the CIR's Eyes on Russia project reported December 4.

"[Russian] FPV drones have an unobstructed flyover zone in Kherson," Lytvyn said. "When a missile emergency is declared in Kyiv, Lviv or Ivano-Frankivsk, we hear sirens. During drone attacks in Kherson, this just doesn't exist."

One Azimuth and Mirage system provides 25-50km of enhanced security on the frontline, Defense Express reported February 2.

Securing the entire line of conflict will require 260 Azimuth systems and 5,600 Mirage systems, the developers estimate.

"This project is bolstering Ukraine's national security," Lytvyn said.