Ukraine is building an advanced army of drones. For now, pilots improvise with duct tape and bombs

Flying above enemy lines, a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone sends a clear image back to soldiers hiding in a basement a few kilometers away: A Russian armored vehicle is idling along a key logistics route, looking like easy prey in the artillery-scarred green landscape. “Snow,” says a calm commander known by the battlefield name Giocondo, who allowed The Associated Press to follow him and his unit of drone pilots on condition of anonymity to protect their identities. The bird’s-eye image of the armored vehicle reappears, and a second drone – this one laden with explosives – is quickly launched.