Over these four years, the war in Ukraine has changed significantly. From classic ground battles to survival in bunkers in the "death zone" and under constant fire from kamikaze drones. What are the most significant changes?
How do you survive for several weeks or even months in a narrow underground shelter in the "death zone" - an area stretching over an area of nearly 20 kilometers, which is mainly controlled by enemy drones? The position in question cannot be reached by vehicle, nor is evacuation from there possible in case of injury, and supplies of ammunition and provisions are constantly interrupted.
All this has become everyday life on the front line in the four years since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
2022: Chaos, ground war and the first Western weapons
When soldiers remember the beginning of the war, they talk about the many volunteers and the long lines in front of the recruitment centers. Today, this is unimaginable. "I received permission to join the army only in September 2022," says Oleksandr Kashaba, military call sign "Plasma", who was only 22 years old at the time.
Chaos reigned at the front then, recalls Stanislav Kocherkha, deputy commander of a drone battalion. In early 2022, he He trained in air defense (AVO) and later joined the infantry. "There were many units, but there was no communication between them," he recalls. Later, the front line stabilized. "Then a real land war began, in which infantry, tanks, artillery and air power were the main means. It was a classic war, as we know it from books," the soldier says.
In the same year, foreign missile launchers, such as the American Himars, became a decisive "factor of change," says Vladislav Urubkov of the "Come Back Alive" foundation, which supplies the Ukrainian army with equipment - from vehicles to grenade launchers. It also organizes training. "The Himars made a decisive contribution to the success of the counteroffensive in Kharkiv," emphasizes Urubkov, who has since left army.
2023: Drones and the counteroffensive
The following year, the military began to use Chinese drones “Mavic” on a large scale - initially for aerial reconnaissance, and then for attacks. Later, kamikaze drones were also delivered. These drones have been used on both sides since the summer of 2023. “I was lucky to serve in the infantry before drones became dominant,” says Oleksandr Kashaba.
Their entry changed many things on the battlefield, Kashaba claims. At first, the wounded were taken out in armored personnel carriers four kilometers from the front line, where an evacuation team was waiting for them. From there, the wounded were taken to stabilization points further from the front in unarmored vehicles. Due to the expansion of the “zone of death“ today this is no longer possible. “In the past, the wounded would arrive at us a few hours after being wounded. Now it takes days“, explains the paramedic with the call sign “Kashan“, who is part of the evacuation team.
2024: Transformation of the front line
In February 2024, the Russians began to rapidly advance in the Donetsk region. It was at this time that a shortage of soldiers was felt at the front, recalls Oleksandr Kashaba, who was transferred to the Armed Forces Headquarters after being wounded. The Ukrainian army was the first to start using hexacopters (drones with 6 rotors) - to hit targets, to transport mines over longer distances and for logistical purposes. In parallel, new means of conducting electronic warfare were also being developed.
According to Vladislav Urubkov, kamikaze drones have fundamentally changed warfare. “The biggest leap in their development came in late 2023 and early 2024, when deliveries of Western artillery shells were delayed,” he says. In the battles for Avdiivka, the Ukrainians used FPV drones against the Russians, who at the time had superior artillery.
For Stanislav Kocherkha, the development of FPV is not so much about the "lack of ammunition" as about the effectiveness and relatively low cost of kamikaze drones. "The front-line units had to adapt, dig trenches, camouflage them and protect them from drones. The equipment had to be moved away from the front line. At the beginning of the war, tanks were three kilometers from the line, and from 2024 they had to be 10 to 15 kilometers from it. The range of cheap and precise ammunition has increased, and the infantrymen are now forced to hide underground and have fewer opportunities for observation," he explains. As a result, "the enemy began to penetrate in small groups," says Kocherkha.
2025: Operation "Kursk" and ground robots
In the summer of 2024, the Kursk offensive began. The Ukrainian army launched a rapid advance into Russian territory, but failed to hold its ground. In the spring of 2025, the operation ended. One of the reasons for the success of the Russian counteroffensive at that time was the fiber-optic drones, which cannot be electronically disrupted. “At one point, the Russians started attacking any vehicle moving towards Kursk with these drones. We were moving at night, and it was very scary because we knew that we could not defend ourselves against such drones“, says the medic “Kashan“.
At the same time, she noticed that the number of wounded had decreased, but not due to a lack of fighting. “In 2024, up to two hundred wounded people arrived in the Avdiivka area a day. Later, their number decreased significantly. The so-called death zone has since expanded significantly - in places it is 20 to 25 kilometers wide. This makes it difficult to evacuate the seriously wounded, says the nurse.
Meanwhile, military doctors consult the wounded via video link directly to their positions and send them medicine by drone. In this way, soldiers with amputations and hemorrhages can survive, even if evacuation is impossible for weeks. Ground robots are now also used to evacuate the wounded. They also serve as deliveries to positions and are equipped with machine guns.
One trend that the military is observing in 2025 is the development of more and more reconnaissance drones. In Ukraine, they are actively working on this task. At first, this was done by volunteers, but now Ukraine has a complete infrastructure in this area, says Vladislav Urubkov of the Come Back Alive Foundation. "This is a reaction to the Russians' expanded production of reconnaissance drones," he points out.
What to expect in 2026
According to Urubkov, the most important event in early 2026 is the disconnection of Russian troops from the Starlink terminals, which they used to coordinate their units and control drones. "Our advantage is that we have access to Starlink." But over time, the Russians also found a way to use the satellite network. Now we hope that they will no longer be able to operate on the front as before, when they had “Starlink“, says Urubkov.
In addition, he expects technological development to continue: “In these conditions, people on the front are becoming more and more vulnerable. We are in a strategic defensive position - we are mainly engaged in defense. I would like to change this“, the military man points out. Oleksandr Kashaba does not believe that technological development can decisively influence the course of the war. “I think that all significant technological changes have already occurred and that the course of the war now depends on who will be the first to run out of soldiers who can fight in conditions of total domination by kamikaze drones“, he says.