Drones buzz overhead, troops hunker underground in Ukraine's hellish kill zone

Ukrainian military medics treat a wounded Ukrainian soldier in the field hospital near the front line in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia on Sept. 12. The vast majority of casualties take place in the so-called kill zone, a band about 10 to 20 miles wide on both sides of the front line, which stretches more than 700 miles from north to south. Andriy Andriyenko/Ukrainian 65th Mechanized brigade/Ukrainian military via AP hide caption

KYIV, Ukraine — The front line in the Russia-Ukraine war stretches the entire length of this country, from north to south. It has barely budged in four years and is sometimes compared to the static, deadlocked, trench warfare of World War I.

Yet straddling this front line is the kill zone , dominated by constantly evolving drone technology that's defining this conflict — and the future of warfare.

"This kill zone is a belt of territory which is full of Russian drones, Russian mines and also artillery. It's nonstop reconnaissance and surveillance," said Ukraine's Sr. Lt. Taras Myshak, the spokesman for Ukraine's 59th Separate Assault Brigade. He spoke with NPR on Zoom, just a few miles from the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has a similar arsenal threatening the Russian forces that are dug in on the other side of the line.

The most important thing to know about the kill zone is that any sign of movement — just sticking your head out of a foxhole for fresh air — can get you noticed, and attacked, by the drones constantly buzzing overhead.

Myshak says even routine movements, like rotating troops in and out of this zone, is a nightmare.

"Not far from where we are talking today, we have a group that moved through the kill zone, and they will walk four hours just to go 1 kilometer," he said. "Because all the time they hear the drone, and they have to hide and wait. Then the drone passes, and they can move."