The long fight for Bakhmut is backed by consumer tech — messaging apps, teleconferencing services, cloud-synced mapping software and drones.
As anticipation builds for a counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces are desperate to lay their hands on Western tanks that could help turn the war’s tide.
Helping keep Ukraine in the fight is its aerial surveillance, which relies mostly on quadcopter drones made by the Chinese company DJI, including models available for under $1,500 at Walmart or Amazon. Once in position, the pilots rotate the drones in and out of air while they change the batteries. They have to collect them quickly: The shelling is ceaseless, and some of Bakhmut’s few remaining residents have stolen the drones when they land.
Like others in the battalion, Tezka was part of the Territorial Defense Forces, a civilian volunteer force originally employed to man checkpoints and defend local areas. That changed in June when military commanders expanded the force’s remit to bolster army troops.Tezka and the rest of the 251st were deployed to Bakhmut more than a month ago, supporting other units — including other drone pilots — in an increasingly desperate defense.
Makarena remembered a time he watched a Ukrainian squad get cut down by a heavy machine gun emplacement he had detected but was never attacked because it hadn’t been confirmed.Like Ukraine, its eastern neighbor and fellow former Soviet republic, Moldova is struggling to keep from being turned into a puppet of Russia once more.
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