The war of drones has reached a level that was impossible to predict just a short time ago. The Western allies are completely unaware of the current military landscape as they talk about defending their borders from a new model of warfare and an enemy that has changed the rules of war.

In the last two years of the full-scale Russian invasion everything has changed completely, and trenches have begun to disappear, said the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade in a recent interview. In other words, drones have erased the front line and created a wide death zone.

Ukraine has now moved to a drone-on-drone war. UAVs can now set up ambushes, intercept enemy logistics, and disrupt supplies. They also make it hard to hold positions: If you are detected, all of the weapons in the area will immediately swarm to destroy you, and nothing will save you – including armored vehicles, trenches, or any other means of defence.

Drones also push artillery further from the front line, making it impossible to use armored vehicles to supply troops, which significantly widens the death zone. Artillery and armored vehicles are becoming less effective and, at times, are useless.

In response, the Russians have started to reduce the size of their assault groups because Ukrainian drones can quickly detect and destroy large clusters. They break units into smaller assault groups, and most of the time, two Russian soldiers lead the way, but only one survives. Smaller groups are harder to spot, especially in fog or rain.

Additionally, Russian drones complicate evacuation, rotation, and logistics during deadly operations. Most of our soldier deaths in the last year or two have occurred during rotations. As a result, commanders are forced to keep soldiers at the front for weeks without rotation.

This is a new war that the rest of the world is unfamiliar with and has no idea how to fight. The West is reluctant to admit that Russia has learned how to wage war with Nato in Ukraine, and the Alliance has no clue how to defend itself or what to do with all of its old, expensive, useless weapons.

This comment first appeared in a emailed digest from Ukraine Business News (UBN) and on its website here. UBN is a bne IntelliNews media partner.