More than 450 days since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the value of Ukraine’s fleet of small battlefield drones is still growing. Both soldiers and civilians are being trained to pilot and maintain many kinds of purpose-built and modified commercial drones. These small quadcopters help to fill a gap between larger military drones and soldiers in the field. They are being used as reconnaissance platforms, as aid for artillery strikes, and as “loitering munitions” or “kamikaze drones,” waiting to drop grenades on enemy positions or flying explosives directly into targets. Russian forces are also using similar devices, driving each side to build up anti-drone technologies as well.
Photos: Ukraine’s Battlefield Drones
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![A soldier carries a drone on their shoulder while walking on a snow-covered road.]()
Read moreA Ukrainian soldier carries a drone close to the front line near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 17, 2023. #
Libkos / AP -
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![A soldier kneels down, holding a small drone with two small bombs strapped to it.]()
Read moreA drone operator with the Ukrainian Army's 93rd Brigade attaches grenades to a drone on February 18, 2023, in Bakhmut, Ukraine. #
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![Four soldiers gather in a doorway, looking on while one operates a remote control for a drone.]()
Read moreUkrainian serviceman Artur with the 50th Brigade pilots a drone on March 8, 2023, at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. After dropping a 40mm grenade on a Russian trench, Artur gathered information about the enemy's location, passing the info to infantry personnel nearby, who then destroyed an enemy storage depot. #
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![Aerial video of an explosion is seen on a small tablet attached to a drone remote control.]()
Read moreClouds of smoke rise above a target, viewed on a monitor, as a Ukrainian serviceman of the Adam tactical group operates a drone to spot Russian positions near the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, on April 16, 2023. #
Sergey Shestak / AFP / Getty -
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![A small four-propeller drone hovers while carrying a bomb beneath it.]()
Read moreUkrainian military personnel learn to fly drones with bombs attached at a special school in the Lviv region on May 12, 2023. The school is funded by KOLO, a Ukrainian foundation running a pilot school of drones and UAVs for the military. #
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![A person holds a small four-propeller drone.]()
Read moreGleb Sivkov, a volunteer drone manufacturer, assembles drones to donate them to the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia) in his garage in Rostov-on-Don on October 21, 2022. #
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![Dozens of small drones are seen stacked on top of one another on a table.]()
Read moreStacks of Ukrainian Viy kamikaze drones, seen during a presentation and handover to the military in Lviv, Ukraine, on May 10, 2023. These kamikaze drones have a seven-kilometer combat range and are resistant to enemy electronic warfare. They can carry both armor-piercing and high-explosive fragmentation shells. #
Pavlo Palamarchuk / Anadolu Agency / Getty -
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![An instructor stands with four other people outside, showing them how to pilot a drone.]()
Read moreDynamo, a Ukrainian military-drone instructor, helps students Ksenia Timofieva, Sasha Prokhorova and Oleksandra Yefymenko during a beginners' drone class on May 20, 2023, in Kyiv region, Ukraine. The Female Pilots of Ukraine is the country's first school dedicated to teaching women—both military personnel and civilians—this skill. #
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![A person holds out their hand to release a small drone into the air.]()
Read moreMarta launches a DJI M30 drone on May 20, 2023, in the Kyiv region. She is formally with the Ukrainian national police, and uses her advanced pilot skills to teach others. #
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![An aerial image of a dozen destroyed houses along a rural road]()
Read moreA drone's-eye view of a shelled area in Vilkhivka, on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 28, 2022. #
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![A soldier kneels in a ditch surrounded by destroyed trees and military gear, aiming a boxy weapon toward the sky.]()
Read moreA Ukrainian soldier uses an anti-drone gun against a Russian drone as he sits in a trench near Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region, on April 28, 2023. #
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![A soldier holds a small drone with a bomb attached beneath.]()
Read moreA Ukrainian serviceman of the 1st Independent Tank Brigade holds a drone with a grenade attached, near the front line of Vuhledar, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on March 4, 2023. #
Lisi Niesner / Reuters -
![Two soldiers in a stand of trees release a small drone.]()
Read moreUkrainian servicemen with a reconnaissance team fly a drone near the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, on May 8, 2023. #
Sergey Shestak / AFP / Getty -
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![A couple of dozen medium-size drones are arranged for display on a stretch of pavement.]()
Read moreA military operator walks past DJI Matrice 300 reconnaissance drones, bought within the framework of a program called "The Army of Drones," set up for test flights in the Kyiv region on August 2, 2022, prior to being sent to the front line. #
Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty -
![Eight or nine small cylindrical bombs with handwritten messages on them sit on a desktop.]()
Read moreSmall bombs are prepared to be mounted on drones in Bakhmut, on September 25, 2022. #
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![A soldier wears video goggles while piloting a remote drone.]()
Read moreA Ukrainian marine is trained to pilot a first-person-view (FPV) drone in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, on May 15, 2023. #
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![An aerial view of a residential area, with a house burning in the center of the image.]()
Read moreAn aerial view of a residential area in Bakhmut, under attack by the Russian military, on February 22, 2023. #
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![A soldier kneels in a stairwell littered with debris, working to attach small bombs to a small drone.]()
Read moreA Ukrainian soldier equips a drone with grenades in an area that has seen heavy battles with the Russian invaders, in Bakhmut, on March 15, 2023. #
Roman Chop / AP -
![Two soldiers sit inside of a room, on a comfortable chair, while remotely piloting drones.]()
Read moreUkrainian soldiers control drones in Bakhmut, on April 26, 2023. #
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![A person holds a smartphone, pointing to the screen, which shows an aerial image of soldiers in a field.]()
Read moreUkrainian soldiers monitor an area using a drone in Bakhmut, on February 14, 2023. #
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![Several soldiers stand side by side, piloting drones. The one in front wears goggles with antennas attached.]()
Read moreUkrainian military personnel learn to fly winged drones at a special school in Lviv, on May 9, 2023. #
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![A view looking up toward a drone flying overhead, which carries two small mock bombs]()
Read moreA Ukrainian military drone is loaded with dummy grenades for target practice, as members of the volunteer Dnipro-1 Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard train in the region of Dnipro, Ukraine, on April 18, 2023. #
Scott Peterson / Getty -
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![A soldier stretches out their hand to launch a small drone at night.]()
Read moreMembers of the Ukrainian military learn to fly drones at night using thermal vision, on May 11, 2023, in Lviv. #
Paula Bronstein / Getty
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