The fields around us smolder from recent Russian strikes, dark smoke drifting into the sky as Shahed drones roar overhead. The trees are charred and skeletal after years of fighting.

The Serebryansky Forest, near the Lyman sector of the front, is part of the fiercely contested Donbas region, which Russia’s Vladimir Putin told the US in August he plans to seize within “two to three months, maximum four.” That gives him until the end of the year, and Moscow is pouring resources and men into the fight.

Before heading on the perilous route to the frontline headquarters of 63 Separate Mechanized Brigade’s unmanned systems battalion, deputy commander “Babay” checks in to establish if Russian first-person-view (FPV) drones are active in the area. Once the all-clear comes, he slams his pickup in

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