In January 2022, just before Russia launched its general invasion of Ukraine, pedestrians in Kiev could witness a peculiar exhibition near the huge "Mother Ukraine" monument.
It was a tour of many of the vehicles used by local volunteers during the first phase of the conflict in 2014 and 2015. There, you could see everything from one of the legendary 'armored frogs' - an old Soviet UAZ truck converted into an armored vehicle in a locomotive factory - to the 'rocket', an old van with metal plates attached, which received that ironic nickname due to its slow speed.
All these contraptions were more akin to scripts like Mad Max. "Back then, we needed them to defend ourselves from shrapnel, and now they have returned to protect us from drones. In those years, we sought to protect the sides. Now we have to protect our heads," explains Lieutenant Colonel Yehor 'Kent' of the Mechanized Brigade 93, who also fought in the Donbass in 2015.
The more apocalyptic aesthetic has once again taken over Ukrainian Donbass, where the slow but steady advance of Russian forces, supported by a new war reality, the dominance of drones (UAVs), has brought back memories of the beginning of the war in 2014 to towns like Druzhkivka, Kostyantynivka, Sloviansk, or Kramatorsk, when all these populations were occupied by separatist militias supported by Moscow.
Last Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed that his forces had captured about 5,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory this year, which would account for 1% of the entire country. The Ukrainian monitoring group Deep State admitted that by late September, the Russians had taken control of over 3,000 square kilometers, most of them in Donbass.
The streets of all these towns have once again been filled with bulky four-wheeled machines. They are called barbecues -mangals in Ukrainian. Off-road vehicles covered with grilles and even a myriad of spikes like porcupines.
Ivan 'Vaha', another soldier from the same Brigade 93, drives a Peugeot Landtrek reinforced with an interlaced mesh cage. "We installed them after a drone attacked us on April 15, 2024. We were very lucky. We were all injured but no one died," he points out.
Although barbecues were already used to protect tanks, the proliferation of Mad Max cars has been a recent response to the ubiquity of drones, which are now the dominant weapon in this war. According to Oleksander Kamyshin, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, now "85% of all targets on the front line are attacked with drones."
Ivan's car was protected by an electronic drone interception system (EW). "But it was an optical fiber drone," he clarifies. The introduction of this new tactic has undermined the effectiveness of these types of radiofrequency blocking systems.
While repairing his Peugeot - which still shows parts of the metal torn by the impact - Yevhen's unit began using another vehicle protected by a barbecue. In May, they suffered another attack. "The car was damaged, but we all came out unscathed," the soldier emphasizes the effectiveness of these metal meshes. "They reduce speed, but add security," he adds.
Intensification of the fighting
The proliferation of Mad Max cars is just one more element that contributes to the intensification of the fighting in Ukrainian Donbass. Kilometer by kilometer, the dividing line with the territories occupied by the Russians - which they managed to push back in 2014 and 2015 - has once again approached Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, or Sloviansk, which until recently could be considered the rear of the front line.
The process resembles the progressive devastation that befell enclaves like Bakhmut, Pokrovsk, and now Kostyantynivka. Sporadic attacks have become an almost daily routine, and their legacy - buildings reduced to rubble - is no longer an exception.
Yevhen Fialko is passionate about the history of Druzhkivka, which is why he sponsored the establishment in 2018 of what he called the "Museum of Resistance" of Donbass. They chose a late 19th-century building that had gone from being a Belgian factory to a prison for the czar's forces, the Nazi Germans, the Soviet secret police, and in 2014, the pro-Russian militias.
The Ukrainian recalls that the past has not been very forgiving to Druzhkivka. In the years following the revolution that overthrew the czars, the population changed hands 22 times.
"People were killed and tortured for over a century" in that same building, Fialko recalls.
His own case is an example of the twists and turns that the town's history has taken. The former director of the local weekly Nasha Druzhkivka had to flee the town on May 10, 2014, after the separatists seized the city in April, at the same time they took control of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Kostyantynivka, and other towns in Ukrainian Donbass.
"My name appeared on a list of people to be executed that Igor Girkin (a Russian who became a military leader of the rebels) had," he asserts.
The militiamen set up their headquarters in Druzhkivka right in the old prison and resumed the use that the facilities had. "They not only tortured. Those who were imprisoned talk about people who left the cells and never returned," he specifies.
The initial uprising ended in disaster when the Ukrainian army launched an offensive in the summer of that same year. Druzhkivka was liberated on July 5. "About 200 neighbors who had shown support for the separatists and had blood on their hands fled," Fialko clarifies.
He returned on July 12. A year later, he managed to access the old prison, which had remained closed since the withdrawal of the secessionist forces. "There were still bloodstains on the floor, women's hair, and chains attached to a pipe, where they chained the victims," he recalls.
Eleven years later, in February 2022, Fialko had to flee again when Russian rockets began to fall near his home. This time, he did not return, as he ended up settling in Israel. From there, the former journalist reflects on the possibility that Druzhkivka - and therefore all of Donbass - may fall back into Russian hands.
"If they return, what happened in 2014 in a few months will be like going through kindergarten. Europe does not realize that (the Russians) are the (new) Mongols," he concludes.
The old headquarters of the museum now remain closed, as do most of the official buildings in Druzhkivka, plagued by drone attacks and Russian bombings.
On August 2, a wave of shaheds (Iranian drones) devastated the central market in broad daylight, leaving no casualties despite the massive fire that consumed dozens of businesses. This past week, the town has been systematically bombed by rockets and drones.
The town has just implemented a new format for curfew, reflecting the precarious situation it faces. Residents can only go out for four hours a day, between 11 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Authorities in Donbass, like in other regions, have launched an accelerated program to install anti-drone nets on numerous roads.
Mesh tunnels now stretch for dozens of kilometers, adding a futuristic touch to the rural landscape that has always defined this region. Routes like the M-03 highway, which connected the Kharkiv region with Donetsk through Izium, were cut off in early September due to repeated attacks by Russian UAVs.
Protected routes have also been equipped with repair equipment, as drones have started targeting poles to bring down the structures. The proliferation of drones has shaken the lives of Donbass residents and soldiers alike. The conflict has evolved into a mix of tactics reminiscent of William Ford Gibson's cyberpunk texts and those anchored in the past. A combination of tactics from World War I and those that could be implemented in a Third World War, paraphrasing French Admiral Pierre Vandier, a senior NATO official.
The era of tanks has ended, with very few seen on the front lines. According to Ukrainian sources cited by The New York Times, out of the 31 Abrams tanks supplied by the US in 2023 - the most modern in Washington's arsenal - 19 have been destroyed, damaged, or captured after facing drone attacks. The rest have been withdrawn from the front lines. "The new order is for all units to have a soldier armed with a shotgun (like those used for hunting). It is the most effective weapon against drones," explained Lieutenant Colonel Yehor 'Kent'. Yehor resides in a basement of an apartment building converted into the headquarters of his unit.
They spent two weeks preparing it. The increasing drone activity made it impossible to stay in Kostyantynivka, prompting their recent move. The conversation stops when images on the computer screens catch Yehor's attention. Ukrainian drones have spotted two Russian soldiers running through a grove. The Ukrainian artillery is targeting the area, with plans to send a drone to bomb the location. A new Russian assault style involving small groups of two or three individuals on foot, motorcycles, or even bicycles has emerged. Russian media has hinted at a revival of "cavalry" using quadrupeds for attacks.
The infiltration of Moscow's military has been facilitated by the shortage of troops in the Ukrainian army, creating vulnerabilities in the defense lines that Russian soldiers are exploiting. The penetration of Russian units using these tactics led to a serious crisis in Dobropillia last August, about 50 kilometers south of Druzhkivka. The infiltration was only halted by sending emergency reinforcements.
Among the reinforcements were futuristic elements like the robots armed with machine guns from the 93rd Brigade, operated by soldiers like Dmytro and Olexander. The ongoing conflict has seen a significant shift, with a focus on disrupting Ukrainian supply lines rather than dismantling defense lines. The war is constantly evolving, with changes every two months, according to veterans like Max and Mihailo.