In the Russia-Ukraine war, drones are one of the most powerful weapons

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/30/ [login to see] /russia-ukraine-war-drones
The images on the laptop are of a ghost town. The camera looking down swivels and zooms in on a burnt-out school.

Sitting in the back of a Ukrainian military van, hidden under camouflage netting, Sacha is monitoring video from a surveillance drone. His team just launched the drone off a 30-foot-long slingshot. It's now crossed the front line and is peering into a Russian-occupied village.

Sacha zooms in further.

"You see the burned machines," he says, pointing to a pair of rust-red metal carcasses in the school yard. A turret comes into view as the drone, flying nearly one kilometer above the village, crosses over the school. "That's a burned tank," Sacha says.

There are no cars moving in the streets. No pedestrians. It appears to Sacha that all the residents of the village have fled. Various animals wander from yard to yard.

"You can see the cows," he says, pointing at the screen. "They don't belong to anyone anymore. Unfortunately, animals also suffer in this war."