Biophysicist Oleh Halaidych, 34, helps make drones at a workshop in Kyiv. "I think we are all motivated because we see that this is a cheap and accessible way to make weapons," he says. "They kill the enemy and destroy his armored vehicles." Anton Shtuka for NPR hide caption
A woman walks in front of a war-ravaged shopping complex in Kherson, Ukraine, on Jan. 4. People in the city say cloudless days are most dangerous because Russian drones take advantage of the high visibility to swarm over the front-line city. Anton Shtuka for NPR hide caption
A man walks down a war-ravaged street in Pokrovsk, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Dec. 19, 2024. Behind him is the hotel Druzhba, which was destroyed by a Russian missile last summer. Pokrovsk was once home to 60,000 people. Now it's largely abandoned, with Russian troops active within a mile of the outskirts. Anton Shtuka for NPR hide caption
Callsign "Sonic", 34, a сommander of the strike unmanned aerial vehicle platoon, known as Dovbush's hornets, a unit of 68th Separate Jäger Brigade. He watches the live streams of drone pilots operating in the Donbas Region on Dec. 19, 2024. Anton Shtuka for NPR hide caption
Residents across New Jersey have been trying to decipher who has been flying mysterious drones over the state, with some taking to Facebook to share videos of sightings. Above, a screengrab from video of a potential sighting shared on Facebook. Brian Glenn/TMX via AP, File hide caption
Palestinians inspect damage following an Israeli airstrike that hit a home in the north of Gaza City on Thursday. Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Nov. 19 in front of a drone the Ukrainians have built with funding from Denmark. Ukraine has rapidly developed an extensive drone industry that plays a critical role in the war with Russia. The inexpensive, homemade drones carry out attacks on the frontline in Ukraine and also deep inside Russia. Efrem Lukatsky/AP hide caption
Anton, who doesn't want his name used for security concerns, builds drones with the company Social Drone in his kitchen in Kyiv, Ukraine. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption
Andrii Denysenko, CEO of design and production bureau "UkrPrototyp," stands by Odyssey, an 800-kilogram (1,750-pound) ground drone prototype, at a cornfield in northern Ukraine on June 28, 2024. Facing manpower shortages and uneven international assistance, Ukraine is counting heavily on innovation at home to halt Russia’s incremental but pounding advance in the east. Anton Shtuka/AP hide caption
Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth looks over the latest version of the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank as she tours the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center on Feb. 16, 2023, in Lima, Ohio. Carlos Osorio/AP hide caption
People, rescuers and security forces gather around a vehicle hit by a drone strike, reportedly killing three people, including two leaders of a pro-Iran group, in Baghdad on Wednesday. Murtaja Lateef/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (center left) and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visit a monument to fallen defenders of Ukraine in Kyiv, Monday. Borrell and EU foreign ministers have gathered in Kyiv in a display of support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion. Press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine via AP hide caption
Investigators examine a damaged skyscraper in the "Moscow City" business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early Sunday, July 30, 2023. AP hide caption
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Federov speaks to drone makers and drone pilot trainers at an event south of Kyiv on June 15. Federov leads the Army of Drones project that has allowed Ukraine to make wide use of drones, for reconnaissance and attacks, offsetting the huge advantage Russia has with its traditional air force. Kateryna Malofieieva / NPR hide caption
Residents stand next to a building that was damaged in the night, following Russian shelling in Komyshevakha, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Monday. Andriy Andriyenko/AP hide caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking to the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin, during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Wednesday. Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP hide caption
Ukrainian servicemen fire with a D-30 howitzer at Russian positions near Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, on Tuesday. Sergey Shestak/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
China's leader Xi Jinping claps as he listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin via a video link, from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec. 2, 2019. Xi will meet Putin this week on a visit to Moscow. Noel Celis/Pool photo via AP hide caption
An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft flies by during a training mission at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada on Nov. 17, 2015. Isaac Brekken/Getty Images hide caption
A woman walks past graffiti depicting a Ukrainian soldier firing a missile, in Kyiv on Jan. 25. The Russians are fighting an intense air war, but it involves mostly missiles, drones and anti-aircraft system. Traditional air strikes by piloted war planes have been relatively rare. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Emergency workers and police examine a building that was hit during a Russian drone strike Wednesday morning in Kyiv. Ukraine says it shot down all 13 drones that targeted the capital. The damage was apparently caused after the drone was hit and came crashing down. Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Yevhenia Podvoiska and Tatiana Kuznetsova, from left, both policewomen, steer and navigate a drone during class in Kyiv on Oct. 27. Students must learn to work in pairs: a pilot and a navigator. Julian Hayda/NPR hide caption
A Ukrainian artilleryman fires a howitzer at a position on the front line near Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Oct. 31. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
A resident looks out the window holding a candle for light inside her house during a power outage, in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday. Airstrikes cut power and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on Tuesday, part of what the country's president called an expanding Russian campaign to drive the nation into the cold and dark. Emilio Morenatti/AP hide caption