How drones came to decide the war in Ukraine, and why no army has found the weapon that stops them

Meduza reports that drones have quietly rewritten the rules of modern war. Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries and transport hubs, sometimes a hundred kilometers or more behind the front lines, have pushed Russia's Defense Ministry to overhaul its air defenses, with Defense Minister Andrei Belousov promising a new integrated, layered system able to counter drones across the entire country by November. Yet Ukraine has already built a comparable system and still can't shield its troops or its rear, while in the Middle East Iranian drones and their proxies keep striking American and allied targets. The upshot, as Meduza tells it, is two major wars grinding into stalemate: cheap, plentiful drones have made decisive victory nearly impossible, and no army has yet found the weapon that reliably stops them.

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