The commander stepped over boxes stacked full of plastic drones and opened the lid on a new delivery. Inside lay the light-gray fins of a mini plane, the latest addition to his arsenal of crewless aerial vehicles for fighting the Russian army.
The 33-year-old leader of what an internal report declared Ukrainian army’s best-performing drone unit, Senior Lt. Yuriy Fedorenko — popularly known by his call sign, Achilles — has been the main constraint on the Russian attempt to seize the strategic town of Chasiv Yar on Ukraine’s teetering eastern front.
For months, his drone teams, part of the 92nd Assault Brigade, have been filling a gap for other units of the army that have struggled with a shortage of troops and ammunition. The teams work day and night attacking Russian armor, dropping explosives on Russian positions and using their drones to ferry supplies to Ukrainian soldiers along the front line.