Key Points and Summary – On the eastern front, Ukrainian troops are facing a relentless barrage from Russian drones and a “critical shortage of personnel.”
-To counter the unmanned aircraft, soldiers have developed a surprisingly effective low-tech solution: stringing up simple fishing nets to catch the drones.
-However, this ingenuity highlights a deeper crisis. A Ukrainian commander reports not receiving replacements for eight months, being severely outnumbered, and suffering from extreme fatigue.
-This desperate situation on the ground is compounded by what he calls a failure to communicate the true difficulty of the war up the chain of command.
Drones vs. Fishing Nets in the Ukraine War
WARSAW, POLAND – For Ukrainian troops along the eastern front lines being battered by drone strikes, the increased lethality of these one-way suicide unmanned aircraft is a great challenge to survival. Searching for a solution for the soldiers being pounded day and night by strikes, the Ukrainians may have found a very unexpected answer.
What frontline units have discovered is that a plain, old-fashioned fishing net strung between poles on the roadsides can provide safe cover for Ukrainian troops. Russian drones operating deep inside Ukrainian territory, will try to strike troop formations, but they get caught in the durable string of which the nets are made.
A report on this Ukrainian solution concludes it has worked reasonably well in Kostiantynivka, one of three frontline towns where Ukrainian forces have been under increasing attack as Moscow’s units attempt to encircle them during a Russian summer offensive.
In a long segment aired by CNN, a Ukrainian commander told the U.S. news network that he had not received replacements for his unit for eight months. At the moment, he told CNN, he was only resupplying frontline positions, and even there his troops are outnumbered.
Quite often, he finds he only has two soldiers to hold back more than a dozen Russian attackers. Those soldiers also need drones to do so, as vehicles would never make it to the trenches without being destroyed.
Controlling the Air Space with Drones?
While drones have changed the battlefield, they can be stopped by something as crude as an old fishing net.
Newer technologies have also been introduced as drone warfare has become more sophisticated. One of these is the use of fiber-optic cable, which prevents drones from being jammed – jamming of radio-controlled drones has become pervasive on the frontlines.
Russian and Ukrainian operators now use what is estimated to be tens of kilometers of very thin fiber-optic lines that keep operators physically attached to the drones.
There are large patches of web-like intertwined cables stretching across the entire battlefield. By staying physically connected, operators can directly control these drones with no regard for jamming attempts.
The drone war takes place above the surface of the earth, but control of that air space is increasingly occurring underground. Commanders sitting in bunkers to deliver orders to drone operators state that there are now only two types of individuals involved in the war.
The first are those hunted by drones on the increasingly nightmarish frontlines. The second are the hunters. But then there are those hunting the hunters, whose bunkers and positions are often hit by airstrikes.
Not Enough Personnel
Most commanders make the same complaint. The problem that never seems to go away is that there are not enough people. As mentioned, a commander from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade has not been sent new personnel for eight months.
“We have a critical shortage of personnel,” he explained. “No one wants to fight. The war is over (for them). The old personnel are left, they are tired and want to be replaced, but no one is replacing them.”
Infantry is spread thin, and personnel often hold positions in pairs. They are delivered food, water, and ammunition in the early light of dawn, or at dusk, when the larger Ukrainian Vampire quadcopter drones can fly.
“We load 10 kilograms of supplies,” said the commander. “And it flies 12-15 kilometers, carrying supplies. Food, ammunition, batteries, chargers for radio stations.”
Frontline positions are so vulnerable to Russian drones that mortar teams often have to walk many hours on foot while carrying 30 kilograms of ammunition and equipment, said the commander.
He also told CNN that poor communication about the nature of military problems was a serious problem up and down the chain of command. “A lot of things are not communicated and are hidden,” he said. “We don’t communicate a lot of things to our state. Our state doesn’t communicate a lot of things to the people.
“To understand the situation, you have to be in it,” he said. “When we say that the situation is difficult, no one understands. You have to be in our shoes. We are tired. Everyone is tired of this war, and I believe that other countries are also tired of helping us.”
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
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Swamplaw Yankee
August 4, 2025 at 4:50 am
The op-ed depicts the future of the WEST. The WEST snores as its MSM deflects the genocide of Ukrainians to some less relevant internal conflict/battle tussles.
The Ukrainian children responded to the mass butchery of the orc russian ethnic invaders in 2022 with their use of recreational drones. The Ukrainian children knew that these were the very same orcs whose great grandpappy came bi-annually thru Ukrainian villages to “Harvest” Ukrainian children for the muscovite GNP industry. The hunt for “Lolita” was generational, genetic and once the personal satiation was over, the abused Ukrainian children were sent to Crimea, Caffe, to be traded for Ottoman gold and create the GNP for Moscow.
In 2025 child labour produces huge output of drones for the orc tsunami of genocide. The orc ruskie builds attack drone ports, on freshly conquered Ukrainian soil. The orc dreams of sending hundreds of thousands of drones per hour 24/7 all the way to Paris and London as the YANKEE MSM snores away watching pro-sports.
The useless state of NATO in this regards is pathetic. While op-ed hacks promote long term tank dementia such as Merklava, Abrams, etc., this dementia vanishes as the tank PR never meets the road surface. They are cowards who refuse to send their super tanks to Ukraine to encounter real front line “reality”.
Putin can send his fleet of tanker drones to the coast of Canada or Mexico, launch and take over Canada and/or Central America in a few days, Abrams tanks or no Abrams tanks. Canada in 2025 is a vassal state with near zero GNP defence budget.
The joke is that the USA put out a huge PR extravaganza now in 2025. It was that their trillion tax dollar defence budget of 2025 just released their first drone grenade that went boom. The sad tragedy of this waste of Yankee tax cash is that the normal civilian kids of Ukraine had that drone innovation way, way back in 2022. Or, is it that the orc ruskie butchers genocide invasion is just an urban legend.
The podcasts of genocide attackers of Ukrainians are out there to watch. The Han CCP Zi regime funds are there to see in action. Zi’s unlimited drones attack Ukrainians hourly, 24/7. Just watch the video. That the USA MSM pretends that Zi’s regime sells the very same drone components to independent Ukraine is another tragedy. Zi sends them to his muslim state customers first.
The WEST seems very unprepared for Putin and Zi. The rail network in Europe can not ship armour or supplies at all. Poland would fall faster to Putin than in the Second World War if it depended on NATO rail shipments of virtually anything. And, air, well, ho, ho, ho. Only the USA and Ukraine have a tiny bit of air transport to move heavy armour.
The front line Ukrainian soldier is under attack by the funds of the Han CCP Zi regime hourly, 24/7. The intensity of ruskie drones is so psychological that a Yankee would not last a half hour. So, the Yankeeignores, takes drugs or watches pro-sports.
The last op-ed line is the main kicker. The Ukrainian soldier understands the deep meaning of brain fatigue. He states that the WEST is “TIRED” of Helping an Independent Ukraine. Is the soldier’s statement wrong? All you hear is the WEST MSM whining that the Ukrainians want too much democracy.
Already you can project, clearly hear the MAGA POTUS Trump faking a scam, con negotiation: “Yeah, Putin should get a free gift, a no-cost giveaway from the POTUS of the USA! Let my ole buddy Putin, Genocide Ukrainians with zero penalty and steal their whole country, their ancient soil.” -30-