Modern Warfare: Why it Looks So Different Today /Lt Col Daniel Davis

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Russia’s battlefield advantage now comes from superiority in manpower, drones, and layered counter-drone systems, rather than traditional heavy armor. Footage from the Pokrovsk area shows Russian troops advancing in fog using a mix of foot soldiers, motorcycles, and civilian-style vehicles with doors removed for rapid escape—an adaptation to the drone-saturated battlefield. This “rag-tag” appearance is actually modern warfare, where heavy armored vehicles (tanks, IFVs, APCs) are avoided because they are easily destroyed by FPV drones.

Motorcycles are used because they move unpredictably and are harder for drones to hit. Heavy NATO-style vehicles, while protected against traditional weapons, cannot maneuver fast enough to evade drones and are now liabilities.

Both sides increasingly rely on drones for reconnaissance, attack, and targeting—but Russia has developed a comprehensive, layered anti-drone ecosystem, including:

Electronic warfare

Small radars

“Anti-drone drones” that intercept enemy UAVs

Drones lying in wait on roadsides, launching automatically when sensors detect movement

Specialized units (e.g., Rubicon UAV group) that hunt Ukrainian drone operators

Because of Ukraine’s severe manpower shortage, it cannot replace lost drone operators, and Russian UAV-hunter units have been destroying these operators at scale—creating large gaps in Ukraine’s front-line drone coverage. When drones are blinded or destroyed, Russian troops can move in the open, especially under fog, and make rapid advances—something not seen earlier in the war.

The speaker argues this trend may allow a partial return to large-scale maneuver warfare if one side can fully suppress the other’s drones.

Finally, Ukrainian morale is described as collapsing, with troops appearing exhausted or shell-shocked in recent videos of captured soldiers. The overall picture is that Ukraine’s military is shrinking and demoralized, while Russia is advancing everywhere by integrating manpower, simple vehicles, drone tactics, and sophisticated counter-drone systems.