Kyiv’s drone campaign base has expanded the ‘kill zone’ without sending soldiers to battle

Verity Bowman

Verity Bowman is The Telegraph’s Foreign and Global Health Security Reporter, covering conflict, human rights abuses, global development and international health issues, with a particular focus on Ukraine. She previously worked as a News Reporter at the Guardian and was named on the Press Awards’ 30 Under 30 list in 2024.

Published 14 March 2026

Ukraine knows it cannot match Russia’s relentless waves of manpower.

Refusing to throw troops into the grinder, Kyiv has taken a different path to victory – one defined by precision, patience and technology. Now, that strategy is starting to pay off.

A relentless and meticulously planned dronecampaign is choking Russia’s front-line forces, expanding the so-called “kill zone” threefold in some areas.

It has turned areas once considered safe behind the front line into deadly no-go zones.

The aim is simple: make it impossible for Russian forces to move men and equipment forward fast enough to sustain offensive operations.

A soldier from one of Ukraine’s unmanned systems battalions, who remained anonymous for security reasons, told The Telegraph: “The drones are constantly watching, constantly striking. It slows them down, it breaks their rhythm and it gives us the space to control the battlefield without sending men to die.”

Ukraine stepped up its precision drone campaign earlier this year, focusing on destroying Russian drone defences to allow its own drones to operate deeper behind enemy lines.

Ukrainian drones are now able to strike targets from up to 93 miles away from the front line, compared to around 31 miles a few weeks ago, expanding the kill zone to unprecedented depths, according to experts.

The kill zone is the area behind the front line where Ukrainian drones can strike Russian troops, vehicles and logistics, making movement hazardous or impossible.

Its boundaries are fluid, shifting along a zigzag pattern depending on the positions of Ukraine’s elite drone units.

Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia team lead at the Institute for the Study of War, said: “This takes time and a tremendous amount of planning,” adding that the campaign was a turning point in the conduct of drone warfare on the battlefield.

“It is becoming much more systematic. Based on geo-located footage we are observing and frequent reports from Ukrainian officials about successful strikes – not just precision strikes against vehicles travelling along roads, but also attacks on Russian drone positions, assembly areas, storage facilities and other key targets.”

At the heart of Ukraine’s new drone war is its Deep Strike Command Centre, a unit created in early 2026 by the Unmanned Systems Forces to co-ordinate and improve the management of drone strikes on targets behind Russian troops.

Experts say its founding represents Ukraine’s transition to a network-centric model of warfare, where planning and the sharing of real-time information allow forces to strike effectively across the battlefield without relying on massed troop movements.

Anton Zemlianyi, senior analyst of the Ukrainian Security and Co-operation Centre, said: “Precision, co-ordination and technological superiority play a key role.”

This year’s campaign began with the deployment of heavy bomber drones, such as Nemesis, a Ukrainian-developed heavy attack system that has become one of the most feared assets in Kyiv’s drone arsenal.

Russian forces refer to it as “Baba Yaga”, in reference to the figure in Slavic folklore, because of its ability to strike silently and effectively at night.

These heavy bombers have been deployed to target key Russian systems, including electronic warfare units, air defence installations and equipment that allows Russia to strike or intercept drones.

Ms Stepanenko said: “Heavy bomber drones give an advantage because they are able to pursue specialised targets.

“By undermining and suppressing these Russian assets, Ukrainian forces create conditions in which more drones can fly at greater distances without being intercepted or jammed.”

The destruction of Russian air defence systems, including Buk, Tor, and Pantsir‑S1 models, has weakened Russian defences in the occupied territories, opening up the skies to unprecedented numbers of lighter drones, which are most affected by jammers.

The shortages of air defence capabilities have also pushed the Russians to rely on antiquated equipment, soldiers on the front line told The Telegraph.

Dimko Zhluktenko, a soldier and analyst at Ukraine’s 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment, said: “In some cases, Russian units have reportedly removed multi-barrel machine-gun mounts from old Soviet attack helicopters … and installed them on improvised gun trucks to fight drones.”

The 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment is one of Ukraine’s cutting-edge drone warfare units, serving as the tip of the spear for many tactical and technological developments.

Russian war bloggers have claimed that Ukraine’s efforts are paying off.

“The enemy has once again taken control of the ‘lower sky’,” one said on the app Telegram, adding: “The situation is difficult.”

Experts have said that infractions have been made across the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk front lines, with successful campaigns in Dobropillia, Huliaipole, Kupiansk, Petrovske, Kostiantynopil, among others.

So far, Russian attempts to push back Ukraine’s dominance in the skies have been largely unsuccessful.

Outages from Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service in Ukraine, are making it harder for Russian forces to operate their own drones, sometimes forcing operators to move into the open to rig communications equipment to lamp posts or trees to maintain control.

Ukraine has been able to secure an advantage over Russia as analysis of its drone operations is paving the way for technological advancements.

Mr Zemlianyi said: “Ukraine continuously analyses battlefield data, including operational reports and signals intelligence, to determine which technologies and tactics work effectively and which are vulnerable.

“Based on this feedback loop, Ukrainian engineers and operators adapt drone systems, communication links and control frequencies to make them more resilient to electronic warfare.”

He said as a result, drones were evolving not only tactically but also operationally, and that in many cases they were beginning to perform roles traditionally associated with long-range precision weapons systems.

Many of the heavy bomber drones also have machine learning or artificial intelligence capabilities, according to Ms Stepanenko, while the range of lighter drones has steadily increased.

Ukrainian forces are not only expanding the kill zone with large numbers of drones, but are using the opportunity to conduct a targeted campaign against Russian vehicles and logistical hubs to make it harder for Moscow to move equipment closer to the front line.

The goal, according to Ms Stepanenko, is to force Russian troops to travel long distances on foot to reach their positions, eventually weakening their ability to hold defensive lines.

By extending the reach of its drones and systematically targeting the systems that protect Russian logistics, Ukraine is attempting to reshape the battlefield without matching Moscow’s manpower, according to Mr Zhluktenko.

“I think the results speak for themselves,” he said. “Russia is losing crazy amounts of rare air defence systems, radars, and there is no way to quickly replenish them.”