Almost paralleling World War I as the first conflict to make significant use of powered flight in warfare, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has turned out to be the first major "drone war," with both sides seeing the use of UAVs as a primary tactical and even strategic factor.

Estonia itself has experienced this firsthand, thanks to the several drone incursions it has seen in its airspace in recent months, culminating earlier in May with the downing of an attack drone by a NATO F-16 over South Estonia.

ERR got a closer inspection on the ground, insofar as security concerns allow, of the realities of drone warfare, 2026 style.

Ukrainian serviceman Maksym preps drones — also known as "wings" — for missions. There are drones and there are drones, of course; depending on the launch position, the Vektor drone, for instance, can penetrate up to 30 kilometers beyond enemy lines, delivering a payload which can vary from a few kilograms to substantially heavier.

"The wings now fly longer and farther. Our positions are 15, sometimes 20 kilometers from the front line. Even reaching a position 20 kilometers away has now become difficult," Maksym explained.

Ukraine has become a world leader in drone warfare, advising other friendly states on the art, but the Russian side has not been napping either. One of its top units, Rubikon, is battling against Ukrainian drone operators for primacy in the skies over Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast.

"That creates additional problems for us. When they arrive, we can feel it thanks to the number of our [drone] aircraft they shoot down. It also becomes harder to reach our positions. But they are only here from time to time," Maksym said.

But how has drone warfare changed, even in the past couple of years?

"A year ago, our priority was detecting artillery units. Now we are searching for infantry trying to infiltrate between our positions," explained Ukrainian serviceman Anton.

"Several units come in, and they get neutralized. One person gets killed, another gets wounded. Another takes refuge in a bunker somewhere. Our task is to find them, but doing so is difficult as the individual is concealed. For this reason, we constantly try to monitor their logistics," said Ukrainian serviceman "Civilian."

"Civilian" is the deputy commander of the drone unit of Ukraine's 25th Airborne Brigade.

"The war brought us new priorities. Here are their drone launch sites, their drone crews and their logistics. Those are our targets," he continued.

Women play a key role in frontline drone warfare as well. ERR spoke to Jelizaveta, tasked with providing target coordinates to her commander.

"For me, there is nothing difficult about this, especially compared with the men on the front line. They have it much harder than I do here with the drones," Jelizaveta said.
Nonetheless, the very lives of those infantrymen on the front line depend on the rapidity of the drone unit's work.

"The speed of our response depends on how quickly I can relay the target coordinates over the radio. The pilots get them, enter them into the tablet, then the drone is ready — and then we're off. How quickly all of this happens, I really can't tell you, as the enemy monitors the media," "Civilian" added.

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