This might be the most terrifying war video you’ll ever hear.
No gore, just the sound of Ukrainian soldiers being hunted by Russian FPV and reconnaissance drones over Pokrovsk.
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A Ukrainian medic recorded 1 minute of nonstop drone activity while hiding under a railcar. In this video, I play one minute of that audio so you can understand what Ukrainian troops live with every single day on the front.
But honestly, close your eyes. The sound tells the real story.
In this breakdown, I explain:
• What these drones are
• Why being hunted from the sky is psychologically devastating
• Why this is different from IEDs and mortar fire in Iraq
• What lessons the U.S. military should and should not be taking from Ukraine
• Why NATO or U.S. forces are unlikely to face this kind of drone saturation
• How air dominance changes everything — and why Russia and Ukraine don’t have it
I also talk about the phases of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the rise of fiber-optic FPV drones, and what happens to soldiers after this war ends, especially when hobby drones start flying over American neighborhoods.
This reminds me of the book "7 Seconds to Die: A Military Analysis of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and the Future of Warfighting". It's a quick, fascinating read. Azerbaijan decisively defeated Armenia in 2020 (which means 7 Seconds to Die is already a dated book).
I know Colonel Antal. It was a good book.
Very brutal.
Israel, Turkey and Pakistan provided military support to Azerbaijan, that is the only reason they did so well. NO ONE helped Armenia, not a single country.
This certainly highlights the necessity for the US to come up with good answers to drones and how to defend against them. I know they are already working on a number of systems, but developing the doctrine and tactics needed to employ whatever those systems are will take time to develop and internalize.
There are many reasons drones are so prolific in the russia aggression against Ukraine. First, is that neither side has air superiority. Coupled with neither military being able to use proper command and control and the inability by BOTH sides being unable to implement maneuver warfare, and any blind man can see the reason for drones. They are a limited tool of opportunity because of lack of proper war fighting capabilities by both sides.
Neither Ukraine or russia can communicate with their troops and commands effectively, if at all in some cases. russian commanders on the ground are no better than mafia lieutenants constantly lying to please the next person in line. On paper, russia should be able to roll over Ukraine right now with the size of their forces, but the russian lines are in such disarray only local movement happens in tiny groups. Ukraine is no better.
russian troops lack discipline and moral integrity and are not rated as a military, only conscripted rabble with next to no training, barely above the level of most animals. What few real troops exist are useless except to kill and force their own conscript rabble forward at gunpoint and take PR pics when all the fighting is done.
The single thing that is saving russia right now are the weak minded western politicians and western "leaders". This alone is why russia is still on the map. Western politicians and leaders are so weak, they are more worried about re-election or making some deal to enrich themselves after either side wins the war, which side I doubt they care about. Look at what the Orange monkey is doing in the USA right now, he is no better than putin.
russia is not a military, it is armed rabble being paid to move forward at tremendous cost in lives and equipment, russia will never recover from this given the number of wounded and the requirement to treat them, and in "treat them" I mean discard and ignore to the point that russia will collapse as a nation because of the eventual outcry and massive burden and violence that will inevitably ensue with all the finger pointing.
Those worried about a power vacuum are grasping at reasons not to help Ukraine. Common sense would dictate the same thing that happened with Germany and Japan, steering them back on the path of a rules based order, would happen to the countries that appear after russia breaks apart. china might try to take something, and the only way that would happen is that if NATO just sat back, which, with our weak politicians, might just happen.
On a side note....To those mouthing off about the middle east and what the "West" caused, you might research before flapping your traps, religious fanatics caused what the middle east has become because they did not like the middle east turning into a western influenced culture, so the religious fanatics burnt it down and the incredibly foolish West tried and failed to stop it. No one can argue with or change the minds of religious fanatics that think, and have been raised to think the way extremist islam does.
Countries with no governments to speak of, run by religious fanatics are incredibly hard to bring into a rules based order because they are not used to rules, they are used to grift and control by MALE ONLY societal norms and pure control by force and threat of death. It was the folly of the West to try and push the middle east back to what it was becoming in the early 70's because no one in the middle east is willing to rise up and put down extremist islam.
Iran is an example of an extremist islamic culture and country that is about to die, and no one in the world will step into save them until they are gone. Then everybody and their brother will run to what was Iran to claim resources and split it up. And not one country will cry "POWER VACUUM!"
Back to the topic at hand...russia has lost this war, it just does not know it yet. Someone will need to pay the butchers bill, only one person fits that position perfectly, he will not live more than a few months after hostilities end, and russia will break apart not soon after. The infighting will start, and like the ussr, russia will go pop.
Not one person pushed the phrase power vacuum when the ussr broke up. Letting the KGB remain in power after the break up of the ussr was a fatal mistake that the West is paying for everyday.
Again, weak politicians cause greater damage later on by failing to act when needed now.
Reminiscent of the drones and autonomous weapons depicted in the humans vs Skynet battle scenes, in the 1st terminator movie
so what you're saying is that we could end the war in Ukraine in about a week or 2 if we wanted to.
The issue becomes…the nuclear option. An animal gets cornered, you don’t know what they are going to do. There’s also the issue…do we want Russia to collapse, as a nation? That creates a pretty big vacuum in the region and given it’s on China’s border, they would be more than interested to step in and take control.
Sure, there would be some potential problems with getting involved. But the point is that we could do it, and it's a choice. Also, we spend a lot of time worrying about the threats that Russia makes instead of Russia having to worry about what happens if we get involved. The US government basically neutered itself and expects respect. Russia should fear us, not the other way around.
…ok, so let’s play that out. US gets involved, we crush them like a grape. Russia collapses. Then what? No more problem? Oh boy, the problems have just begun. As Collin Powell said, “you break it, you own it”. See how well that went for Iraqi? Afghanistan? …and I could list many other countries we’ve broken and we’ll, didn’t really fix. But on the upside, we can bask in the glory and stroke our collective ego for crushing them. Good job! 👍
You think like trump, and because of your ill thought out reply, likely know as much about military history and battles, and causes as he does.
Got it. So "let's be afraid of Russia" is the strategy we are going to continue with.