Ukraine is short of drones on the front lines, The Wall Street Journal reports

Ukraine’s army lacks drones and other weapons capable of striking targets at medium range—20 to 120 miles behind the front line.

This was stated to The Wall Street Journal by Vienna-based military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady.

According to Gady, strengthening Ukraine’s arsenal requires “greater support” from Western partners. He emphasized that Ukraine now has trained drone pilots, but strikes on targets deep in the rear of the Russian army are “fragmentary” in nature. In addition, Russia has shifted to a “systematic approach” to tracking Ukrainian drone teams, the analyst said.

“Russia has shifted to a more systematic approach to tracking Ukrainian drone groups, disrupting and destroying drone logistics, which are the center of gravity of Ukraine’s defense,” Gady noted.

The expert added that Russia is using drones more and more effectively. This helps it advance and weakens Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table. Gady stressed that Russia’s current drone strategy is focused on “medium range” of about 12 to 50 miles. The priority targets for Russian forces are Ukrainian drone operators and logistics facilities, he said.

In February, The New York Times columnist Marc Santora wrote that the front line in Ukraine is becoming increasingly dangerous and deadly each year as the “kill zone” expands and drones complicate any troop movement. Also in February, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian drones pose a particular threat to Ukraine’s forces. And Yurii Ihnat, head of the communications department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, called Russian “Shahed”-type drones one of the Ukrainian army’s main problems.