Ukrainian Forces Gain Ground as Drone War Expands Frontline Grey Zone to 15-20 km
Updated
Updated · CBC Sports · May 22
Ukrainian Forces Gain Ground as Drone War Expands Frontline Grey Zone to 15-20 km
3 articles · Updated · CBC Sports · May 22
Ukrainian units have clawed back territory in several sectors, with analysts saying Kyiv has regained tactical initiative in parts of the front even as fighting around Donetsk’s Kostyantynivka remains intense.
A drone-saturated battlefield has stretched the local “grey zone” near Kostyantynivka from roughly 3-5 km to 15-20 km, leaving positions intertwined and making control harder to define.
Small Russian infiltration teams now replace larger armored assaults there, while constant aerial surveillance makes troop movements, logistics and civilian evacuation routes vulnerable to near-immediate strikes.
Around 50 km southwest, Ukrainian officers say Russia is concentrating forces and camouflaging artillery near Pokrovsk, though Kyiv says the situation is under control and its units destroyed about a dozen enemy guns in three days.
Military analysts say the same drone warfare that is helping Ukraine stall Russia is also making large-scale offensives far harder for either side to organize as the war enters its fifth summer.
Ukraine's drones strike deep into Russia. Is this pressure enough to crumble Moscow's war effort from within?
With drones creating a battlefield 'deadlock,' what new strategy could finally break the stalemate in Ukraine?
As Ukraine pioneers drone warfare, can its innovation outpace Russia's massive industrial-scale production of unmanned systems?