Now, alarming escalations of the war between Russia and Ukraine are observed in employing hostile drones to disturb civilians beyond traditional military targets. The news reports about those unmanned aerial vehicles are non-stop and describe the unmanned aircraft as unpredictable threats, usually without notice, targeting populated areas and leaving the civilians susceptible to deadly strikes.
Drones have been employed in cities like Kherson, on the Dnipro River, not only for reconnaissance but also as a tool of terror, carrying improvised explosives. Witnesses describe how the drones fly low, buzzing menacingly, sometimes at just a few metres above ground, before letting loose small lethal payloads. The pattern is one of evading air defense and rapid, targeted attacks that turn everyday civilian life into a battlefield.
Officials and aid organizations have sounded the alarm as a situation of psychological warfare. Drones staging silent attacks trigger no air raid alarms but leave residents unprepared to defend themselves or others most of the time. This situation points to how new war requires more and more drones for the purpose of intimidating and causing destruction in the battlefield.
Amidst the escalation of conflict, Ukraine is scurrying to enhance its defense capability through the acquisition of advance air defense systems from these aerial threats. The issue, in the ultimate sense, requires strong international response to the threats drones pose not just to war but to ground non-combatants’ interests as well.
