Effective protection, according to Ukrainian soldiers, even if the Russian pilots manage to penetrate the nets by openings and await, from the inside, the passage of vehicles to attack.
The Russian army also covers its road axes to house the supply lines close to the front, according to a report by the Russian Defense Ministry dating from April.
Eyes to the sky
“It’s the drone war,” says Denis. His team and are protected by soldiers equipped with shotguns responsible for shooting the FPV, who have already seriously injured several of his men. “Even civilians ended up getting used to it,” said the commander.
Under the nets, a Soviet car is, a white flag hanging on the antenna, in the hope of not being targeted.
Wait in a small coffee-subsistence in Dobropillia, Olga ended up taking amazing reflexes: “When I drive, I open the windows to avoid glass bursts if the drone touches me,” she explains with disconcerting naturalness.
Olga, 45, also keeps her bag on the seat next to her “to be able to jump quickly” from the car in the event of an attack.
Behind his counter, the blonde with electric blue eyes listens to the stories of its customers, victims of daily attacks.
“I was continued by an FPV on 200 meters,” says one, “he fell in front of me,” describes the other by making gestures to the sky.
New tactic
The danger is not limited to roads. Since early July, the Russian army has started using its FPV drones to hit the city of Dobropillia.
According to Ukrainian soldiers, it is the first time that a city so far from the front has been massively and daily affected, revealing new Russian tactics.
However, the streets seem peaceful, mothers shop with their children. But, when they do not have their eyes in the air to try to see drones, they keep them on the phone, to learn about the Telegram messaging of the presence of FPV above the city.
Suddenly, a disaster zonzonment of drone fills the atmosphere. Everyone rushes into stores and crouches, faces distorted by fear.
The past threat, a woman gets shyly out of her shelter, her nose to the sky, then resumes her shopping bags left on the ground and leaves as if nothing had happened. A scary show that has become daily.
The neighborhood of Olga was recently affected by an FPV, leaving its owner in a coma. A “frightening” atmosphere has settled in town, she describes.
“Now we jump to each air flow,” says Olga. “The day passes, the night passes, and we are happy to wake up, with still arms and legs”.
All in danger
Despite the attacks on the roads, Olga receives what she needs to turn her little coffee, suppliers making a detour by paths more distant from the front.
But she does not know for how long: “Everything is pending now, we live day by day,” she says.
Every day, the victims flock to the small city hospital. According to its director, Vadym Babkov, the FPV “spare neither medical workers nor civilians”.
As the roads “are not yet 100 %covered” by the nets, ambulances must take several kilometers, reducing the hope of patient survival, explains the 60 -year -old man.
“Now we are all in danger,” concludes Vadym, dark.
