March 18, 2026: The Ukraine War, now entering its fifth year, is experiencing a growing shortage of soldiers to defend the 1,100 kilometers of front line. Both Russia and Ukraine find themselves with populations unable to generate enough new soldiers to replace losses. Many of those losses are deserters, or military age men fleeing the country before the military can recruit or mobilize them. Many Russian soldiers joined the reserves to avoid fighting in Ukraine. The reserve units were for any other national emergency. Remember that Russia did not consider the invasion of Ukraine a war, but a special operation. By now most Russians have come to see Ukraine as a bad place, where you are likely to get killed or wounded. Now Russia is calling up reserve units and finding that many of the reservists had somehow disappeared.

The end result has been not enough troops to guard the entire front line. Both sides have this problem and over the last six months troops and commanders have quickly adapted. The solution is to keep unmanned frontline areas under constant drone surveillance. Recruiting men to become drone operators is much easier than obtaining infantrymen. When drone operators spot enemy troops moving through the unmanned front line, attack drones are sent to attack the enemy troops while a company or two of infantry held in reserve are sent in to clear out any remaining enemy troops.

All this would not be happening had not the war in Ukraine led to radical changes in the way ground combat is conducted and experienced. There is no longer a conventional combat zone with a front line and large numbers of soldiers moving about. Drones keep the battlefield under constant surveillance. If a target is spotted, a nearby attack drone either drops an explosive or crashes into the target and explodes. Videos and still photos of this captured by the drones produce horrific images of the last moments of a soldier's life.

A battlefield where each side can see everything all the time changes the way troops move about and survive in a 30 kilometer deep zone where both sides’ drone operators are covered with nets to prevent drone attack. Troops move around in small groups at night wearing cloaks that conceal their shape and body heat. Moving a hundred meters this way is exhausting but survivable. Soldiers use drones and sometimes themselves as bait to get the enemy to reveal what they are going to do. You set up traps in these situations and are ready to have your drones attack enemy soldiers who got sloppy or just unlucky.