Ukrainian forces have created what they call a "kill zone" along the front line - a no-man's-land stretching 20 to 30 miles wide where drones can spot and destroy just about anything that moves. Russian ground assaults through this terrain have abandoned armored vehicles in favor of troops advancing on foot, sometimes using motorcycles, electric scooters, or horses, "Hvylya" reports, citing The Atlantic's investigation.

The transformation has been swift. In 2023, Ukraine produced fewer than 150,000 drones. The following year, output topped 1 million, then rose to 4 million last year. Production is expected to double again in 2026. Before this shift, artillery caused more than 80 percent of casualties on both sides. Now drones account for an even larger share of the dead and wounded, and their range has surpassed that of most artillery pieces.

Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces, told attendees at a conference in July how a group of NATO officers had invited him to their base and asked for his honest assessment of their readiness. "My answer did not really calm them down," he told the audience. Four Ukrainian drone teams, he said, "would take 15 minutes to make another Pearl Harbor."

NATO military drills have substantiated the warning. During one set of exercises in May, Ukrainian drone operators were invited to play the adversary role. They launched 30 rapid strikes and took 17 armored vehicles out of the game within hours. "It was all destroyed," one participant told The Wall Street Journal.

Eric Schmidt, a former Google CEO who has invested in Ukrainian drone manufacturers, believes Ukrainians could overtake their Western peers in the arms market. "They will be the primary arms supplier to all of Europe," Schmidt said at a security conference in Germany last month. Ukrainian drones, he added, "are so inexpensive; they are so battle-tested."

Oleksandr Kamyshin, the official who oversees Ukraine's weapons industry, framed the choice bluntly. "We'll never make as many shells or tanks as the Russians," he said. "So we need to change the strategy. Produce less tanks. Produce more drones. It seems like an obvious decision."

"Hvylya" earlier reported on how Foreign Policy assessed what Ukraine's fight foreshadows for dozens of other states.