LVIV, UKRAINE — Social media is flush with footage of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers being killed by drones. 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.Some of these videos are posted as war propaganda. 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 simple purpose of attracting eyeballs.These videos, which amount to battlefield snuff films, generate intense responses from viewers because of the jarring dynamic they reveal about drone warfare — very frequently, soldiers killed in action never had a chance against an operator pursuing them from miles away.
Killing people through a screen
Jordan O’Brien is a New Zealand soldier who formerly served with the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces’ 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment.
He spoke with the Washington Examiner 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 — the “backyard of the war” as locals refer to it — 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.
