{"id":595318,"date":"2025-11-26T16:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/595318\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T16:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:09:12","slug":"drone-operators-are-hunted-you-feel-it-from-your-first-day-the-female-pilots-on-ukraines-frontline-drones-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/595318\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Drone operators are hunted. You feel it from your first day\u2019: the female pilots on Ukraine\u2019s frontline | Drones (military)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women have been involved in Ukraine\u2019s drone operations since the early months of the full-scale invasion, but as shortages in the military increase their presence has grown, particularly in FPV (first-person-view) attack units.<\/p>\n

Casualty figures are not disclosed but widely understood to be high, and Ukraine is becoming reliant on civilians to fill roles that once belonged to trained military personnel. A short but intensive 15-day course is given to a trainee operator for frontline deployment, a turnaround that reflects the urgent need.<\/p>\n

There are no official figures for how many women serve as drone operators, but instructors and unit commanders estimate that several dozen are now active or in advanced training, with more joining each month.<\/p>\n

Operators face significant danger<\/a> as they work close to the frontline \u2013 often only a few kilometres from Russian positions \u2013 and are frequently targeted by artillery, drones and guided bombs.<\/p>\n

Dasha did not expect to serve. She spent the first months of the invasion helping as a volunteer, then moved into drone work as more men from her region were killed or mobilised. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about whether I was ready,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was about the fact that there were fewer people left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her motivation, she insists, is simple. Her two children now live in Europe<\/a>, and she wants them to return to a safe Ukraine. Her father, 89, survived the second world war. The weight of that history stays with her. \u201cI don\u2019t want my children to become the next generation of war children. That\u2019s all the motivation I need.\u201d<\/p>\n

She now leads a mixed-gender unit operating a few kilometres from the eastern frontline. The atmosphere is one of exhaustion rather than heroism. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about women proving anything,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s about necessity. Everyone is stretched. Everyone is adapting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elisabeth\u2019s first experience of the war was the sound. Her town came under repeated bombardment in 2022, and she spent weeks sleeping in stairwells and basements. \u201cAfter a while you stop asking what you can do,\u201d she says. \u201cYou ask what is still possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her FPV training coincided with a period of heavy losses in her region, and several members of her team were injured within months of deployment. The dynamic inside the units shifted quickly. \u201cPeople stopped caring who was a woman or who wasn\u2019t,\u201d she says. \u201cThey cared who could fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

What she struggles with most is the psychological weight: the long hours, the constant threat of detection by Russian drones and the knowledge that every mission might involve killing, or losing someone she knows. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get easier,\u201d she says. \u201cYou just get used to carrying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilona enrolled at a civilian-accessible drone school after months of watching Russian aerial attacks intensify around her home. She had no military experience and little confidence she would fit in. \u201cI thought drones were for professionals,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople who grew up with technology. Not me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The training centre keeps a low profile, changing locations after being targeted several times. Trainees accept this as part of the routine. \u201cYou understand very quickly that drone operators are hunted,\u201d she says. \u201cYou feel it from the first day.\u201d<\/p>\n

What stands out most to her is not the danger, but the demand. Hundreds of people \u2013 many of them civilians \u2013 join the waiting lists for training each month. \u201cSo many men my age are already gone,\u201d she says. \u201cSomeone has to take their place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Women have been involved in Ukraine\u2019s drone operations since the early months of the full-scale invasion, but as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-595318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115616872195301776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}