In the summer of 2025, I tried to sleep through a Russian bombardment in Kyiv. For hours, drones and missiles pounded the city. Outside my window, streaks of air-defense fire lit up the sky as Ukrainian forces chased hundreds of Russian drones overhead. Then my building shook from a nearby strike. The night was sleepless with the sound of Shahed drones buzzing loudly. By morning, I was leaving for the front with the Dignitas Ukraine team, including its co-founder and CEO, Lyuba Shipovich.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Over the following weeks, I met Ukrainian robotics units, watched frontline missions, and later spent time embedding myself with a drone team operating inside the kill zone, the stretch of terrain behind the front where drones hunt anything that moves. I saw how drones are changing the war. I also felt how quickly war ages a person. Ryan Van Ert, a filmmaker from Los Angeles, joined part of my journey. I had met him through Alina Holovko, a friend who helps run Dobra Sprava, a volunteer group that brings aid to frontline communities and evacuates civilians. Ryan had come to Ukraine to film the war and tell its stories. We first worked together near Druzhkivka, on the Donetsk front, in December 2024. “My motivation to come to Ukraine began with the shock of the full-scale invasion,” said Ryan. “As a filmmaker, I’m always searching for powerful stories.” After that trip, we stayed in touch. Ryan wanted to return to the front with me.