{"id":2607204,"date":"2026-05-27T05:34:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russias-drone-invasion-the-grim-realities-of-remote-combat\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T05:38:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:38:49","slug":"russias-drone-invasion-the-grim-realities-of-remote-combat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russias-drone-invasion-the-grim-realities-of-remote-combat\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia&#8217;s drone invasion: The grim realities of remote combat"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frussias-drone-invasion-the-grim-realities-of-remote-combat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2607204&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Social media is awash with first-person footage from the Russia-Ukraine war showing soldiers being killed by drones-often with attackers operating from miles away-along with videos shared as propaganda, dissected on military forums, or posted by clickfarming accounts to draw views. Viewers react strongly to the reality that many victims have little chance once detected.<\/p>\n<p>A New Zealand soldier serving in Ukraine, Jordan O\u2019Brien, describes how drone warfare feels like inevitable death when someone is spotted in the open and how drone operators can cause killings while feeling disconnected from the fear that would exist in closer combat. He argues that stereotypes about why some people \u201cjust stand there\u201d don\u2019t capture the exhaustion and resource deprivation on the front line, and he dismisses online claims about the \u201clack of honor\u201d in drone killing as irrelevant to what combat has always involved.<\/p>\n<p>The article also profiles jonas oehman, founder of the Lithuanian NGO blue\/Yellow, which <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >avoids providing traditional weapons due<\/a> to legal constraints but uses crowdfunding to equip Ukrainian troops with drones and related equipment. Its messaging is blunt: the institution exists to help Ukrainians kill Russians, reinforced by carefully edited drone-kill videos and even the Russian identity documents of fallen soldiers.<\/p>\n<p>Together, thes accounts push back on Western discomfort with watching lethal combat from a digital outlook, arguing that the central need in an invasion is to stop the enemy decisively-not to preserve sentimental notions of \u201chonor.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>LVIV, UKRAINE \u2014<\/strong> Social media is flush with footage of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers being <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3129767\/ukraines-drone-attacks-drive-home-new-normal-war-russia\/\">killed by drones<\/a>. Users around the world watch in first-person as a machine enters a building and detonates itself next to a man cowering in a corner. An aerial camera records a soldier trying to fight off another drone with a stick. Some throw their rifles at the machine. Others simply stand in place and allow the drone to kill them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of these videos are posted as <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia-ukraine-war\/\">war propaganda<\/a>. Some are shared on military forums or Telegram channels for armchair analysts to dissect and discuss. Perhaps most horrifically, many are posted by clickfarm accounts to sites such as X for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-passes-bill-banning-imports-from-xinjiang-china-over-slave-labor-concerns\/\" title=\"House Passes Bill Banning Imports From Xinjiang, China Over Slave Labor Concerns\">simple purpose<\/a> of attracting eyeballs.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/4578165\/newsom-ai-order-protect-worker-job-disruption\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Newsom unveils AI order aimed at protecting workers from job disruption<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4572281\/conservative-group-trump-test-powerful-ai-models\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Conservative group urges Trump to test most powerful AI models before they\u2019re released<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/4568983\/majority-americans-oppose-ai-data-centers\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Majority of Americans oppose AI data centers being built in their areas<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These videos, which amount to battlefield snuff films, generate intense responses from viewers because of the jarring dynamic they reveal about drone warfare \u2014 very frequently, soldiers killed in action never had a chance against an operator pursuing them from miles away.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<h2 id=\"h-killing-people-through-a-screen\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Killing people through a screen<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jordan O\u2019Brien is a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/new-zealand\/\">New Zealand<\/a> soldier who formerly served with the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces\u2019 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He spoke with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> at a pizza restaurant in Lviv, a few hours before the nationwide curfew, which dictates when civilians close their businesses and return home. In the Western city of Lviv \u2014 the \u201cbackyard of the war\u201d as locals refer to it \u2014 the curfew is around midnight. Drones sometimes wander into the city and smash into structures such as church towers, but they are much rarer than in the East. City-wide alarms ring out occasionally, but people usually accept the risk and go on with their day as the sirens blare.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">St. Andrew\u2019s Catholic Church in Lviv, Ukraine. The church property was hit with a drone in March in a Russian attack. (Photo: Eduard Glebov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Brien showed up in Ukraine at the start of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/6-major-things-biden-failed-to-address-in-his-speech-to-congress\/\" title=\"6 Major Things Biden Failed To Address In His Speech To Congress\">full-scale invasion<\/a> in 2022 with a rucksack of medical supplies and joined the first outfit that would take him on. There was no paperwork, no contracts, and no fussing about visas. In those early days of the conflict, units were willing to onboard just about <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense-national-security\/state-department-russia-captured-americans-ukraine\">any able-bodied soldier willing to fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI actually walked out of my old job in New Zealand as a security manager,\u201d O\u2019Brien told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cI absolutely despised the job, despised my boss. And I saw what was happening in Ukraine, and I was like, \u2018That\u2019s me \u2014 I\u2019m a soldier, that\u2019s where I\u2019m supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Brien fought on the front lines of the conflict, and as the nature of the battlefield changed, he was baptized by fire into both operating drones and defending against them. He earned perhaps his highest honor in 2024, when the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia\">Russian government<\/a> found him guilty in absentia of fighting as a mercenary and sentenced him to 14 years in prison if captured. His response on social media: \u201cLol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Brien said that by the time a drone has spotted you in the open, you are already a dead man walking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s gonna kill you. It\u2019s one of those situations, the most basic human vital flight response, and most guys are gonna f**king run,\u201d he told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cBut you\u2019re not running away. You\u2019re not f**king running unless by some miracle you\u2019ve got cover nearby and you\u2019ve got a very small chance of maybe diving into a bunker or getting into a tree line and this thing gets snagged on some branches or something like that. But if you\u2019re out in the open, you are f**ked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This scenario of unavoidable doom has only escalated as both sides have learned to coordinate drone operations in packs, meaning that if you somehow manage to overcome one, another is likely prowling the skies nearby and preparing to hit you from another angle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some styles of drone, such as the Shahed and the Mavic, have become widely recognized, but every week brings new demands and models. Last month\u2019s drone technology is always compromised or made obsolete by this month\u2019s anti-drone development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Brien spoke with grim realism about the situation. He has seen comrades killed by drones not far from his own position. He has helped kill Russians from afar with the same technology. He acknowledged that it feels like warfare is \u201cgetting close to that Skynet theory of robots dominating the battlefield\u201d and a \u201cdisconnect\u201d is forming between combatants <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/drones\/\">operating drones<\/a> from bunkers and their targets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019re watching someone through a little screen. You don\u2019t feel that fear,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I\u2019ve been in gunfights before, there\u2019s a fear because, \u2018Man, a stray bullet and I\u2019m gone, I\u2019m done.\u2019 When I\u2019m flying a drone, there\u2019s still risks like that \u2014 artillery hitting our position, drones hitting our position. But it\u2019s a lot easier when I\u2019m set in some bunker and I\u2019m watching this dude run around trying to save his own life. But I feel no compunction about killing him, regardless of whether he\u2019s throwing his rifle away or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Brien is, however, aware of the ways that dramatic changes in warfare have rendered conflict unrecognizable to the civilian public. Digital spectators, unfamiliar with the dread of impending death upon seeing an aerial vehicle hovering overhead, wonder why some soldiers just seem to lie down and die.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou see some Russians just stand there,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cAnd this is where a lot of people start to question like, \u2018Oh, this is some fake bulls**t. You guys are just standing there. No one\u2019s going to stand there and let themselves get killed.\u2019 But when you\u2019ve been on the front line for over 4 years, with no fucking rotations and you are just zapped of all resources, I can sort of understand why some guys just give up and let it hit them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/31\/world\/europe\/ukraine-war-drone-game.html\">gamification of war<\/a> has been a motif of dystopian fiction for decades. Public commentators in the modern day variously decry the proliferation of lethal drones as a moral crisis, which removes humanity from conflict or as a cowardly means of waging war that lacks honor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wait-hear-me-out-here-aoc-is-exactly-right-this-time\/\" title=\"Wait, Hear Me Out Here: AOC Is Exactly Right This Time\">people online talking<\/a> about, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s no honor in war anymore\u2019 \u2014 as if there was ever f**king honor in war,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an honorable thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He sees these talking points as meaningless appeals to virtues that have never existed on the battlefield. He pointed to the development of artillery that can indiscriminately bombard enemy positions from an unassailable distance, or the use of air strikes against ground troops that cannot hope to take down a fighter plane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He joked that medieval knights probably had the same complaints about the introduction of crossbows that modern opponents have against drones. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI want to crash it into a Russian,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be the one who can make sure that that pay load that\u2019s been prepared by my mate. I want to make sure that it finds the weakest spot on whatever target I\u2019m going for so I can kill it. I mean, that\u2019s what we\u2019re here to do. We are here to kill as many Russians [as possible] and destroy their tanks, destroy their planes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-we-kill-russians-that-is-what-we-do\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018We kill Russians. That is what we do\u2019<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jonas Oehman is the founder of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/blue-yellow.lt\/en\/\">Blue\/Yellow<\/a>, a Lithuania-based NGO started in 2014 after the Russian invasion of Crimea. He is a native of Sweden and a veteran of the Swedish Armed Forces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every wall and set of shelves at the Blue\/Yellow office in the capital city of Vilnius was cluttered with war trophies and unit badges sent from Ukrainian soldiers. The organization is a grassroots fundraising outfit that uses all donations to equip Ukrainian troops with drones, protective gear, medicine, computers, vehicles, and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are totally crowdfunded. Again, mind you, we are an NGO. We are like a cat shelter-level organization,\u201d he said just a few feet from a display of a massive, spider-like monstrosity called a \u201cBaba Yaga,\u201d used by the Ukrainian military for precise nighttime strikes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Due to the immense red tape surrounding the process of furnishing a foreign military with lethal weaponry, Blue\/Yellow cannot use its funds to provide guns or munitions. But Oehman, who makes no effort to speak about his organization in a politically correct manner, says there\u2019s really only one thing Blue\/Yellow does: \u201cKill Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Blue\/Yellow founder Jonas Oehman shows off a drone at the organization\u2019s office in Vilnius, Lithuania. (Photo: Timothy Nerozzi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oehman has many ways of conveying that mission statement. His laptop is full of professionally edited montages of Russian soldiers being killed by drones. Each video clip ends with the same discomforting visual \u2014 a first-person acceleration so close to a fleeing soldier that one can clearly see the look of terror on their face, then a cut to black of static fuzz. The next clip is another identical killing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oehman also has a stack of Russian passports picked off of Russian soldiers after being killed in battle. Each still has the identifying page in it that puts a name and face to the victim.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe kill Russians,\u201d he said, bursting with pride. \u201cThat is what we do. We help the Ukrainians to kill Russians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nearly identical truisms about killing Russians offered by O\u2019Brien and Oehman push back on Western critics who get cold feet about Ukraine killing invading forces: buried under complaints about a lack of honor on the battlefield is often a more fundamental discomfort with watching the reality of men dying in combat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4582552\/ukraine-lose-half-heavy-ammunition-czech-coalition-fracture\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4582552\/ukraine-lose-half-heavy-ammunition-czech-coalition-fracture\/\">UKRAINE FACES LOSS OF HALF ITS HEAVY AMMUNITION SUPPLY AFTER CZECH-BACKED COALITION FRACTURES<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Brien speculated that because the West\u2019s most recent visceral experiences with war were the campaigns in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4356563\/hunter-biden-calls-afghanistan-withdrawal-failure\/\">Afghanistan<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4581522\/tulsi-gabbard-honors-wish-of-gold-star-wife-to-visit-husbands-grave\/\">Iraq<\/a>, portions of the public are unable to digest and understand the realities of a national invasion by a sovereign country such as Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis isn\u2019t [about winning] hearts and minds,\u201d O\u2019Brien told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cWe need to kill them to stop them dead in their tracks. You can\u2019t be squeamish about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LVIV, Ukraine: Social media bombards viewers with drone-kill footage of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2607205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSCF3409-e1779836663300.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[80316,4280,80315,80317,80318],"class_list":["post-2607204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-remote-combat","tag-russia","tag-ukraine-drone-warfare","tag-unmanned-aerial-systems","tag-war-realities"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DSCF3409-e1779836663300.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607204"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607208,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607204\/revisions\/2607208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2607205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}