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- Four years after its all-out invasion of Ukraine, Russia is launching its largest aerial attacks of the war. - Fighting back, specialist units deploying their own drones. - We've been given exclusive access inside the Lasar's Group, a Ukrainian National Guard drone unit hunting and taking down Russian threats.
- AI really drastically changes the game of drone interceptors. - Combining thousands of Iranian designed Shahed drones, decoys, and advanced missiles, Russia is trying to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. It's deploying 20 times more one-way attack drones than two years ago in almost daily strikes. So far, Ukraine has intercepted around 90% of them, but its stocks of expensive interceptors are running low, leaving the country vulnerable
to advanced missiles in large attack waves. - One Shahed type drone costs as little as $20,000 to build. A tiny fraction compared to some surface to air missiles costing millions of dollars for each strike. To keep its skies clear, Ukraine has found a solution. Cheap drones only costing around $1,000.
- The Lasar's Group has been at the forefront of using drone technology since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. From FPV or first-person view drones to bombers, they were initially focused on destroying heavy equipment. By mid-2026, Lasar's group said it had destroyed over $14 billion worth of military hardware, including roughly 20% of all confirmed Russian tank losses. But as the war is changing, they're also adapting, retraining many of their pilots to help defend the skies.
- As one team prepares the drones and gets ready to dispatch them, another, including the pilot and navigator, is stationed at a remote operations hub hundreds of miles away from the active front line. - They have to work together to make sure the physical antenna is in the right position for the drone to take flight. - Russia is changing tactics to try and avoid Ukrainian interceptors, deploying faster drones that operates at a lower altitude to try and avoid detection.
- To improve their ability to shoot down Russian drones, the Lasar's Group is working with defense company Skyfall, who are enhancing P1 sun drones with AI targeting.
