Britain’s Financial Times reports that Russia has managed to neutralize what had been the Ukrainian Armed Forces' key tactical advantage on the battlefield — unmanned aerial systems. This shift, the paper notes, is tied to the launch of Russia’s Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies known as Rubikon, which has effectively erased Ukraine’s edge in drone warfare.

According to the newspaper, Ukrainian drone crews, who for nearly two years had been striking Russian units with minimal risk, have now become targets themselves. Financial Times journalists write that Rubikon, relying on advanced technologies and its own fleet of hunter drones, detects, tracks, and eliminates Ukrainian operators before they can deploy their aircraft.

The report also cites statements from Ukrainian servicemen who describe Russia’s Rubikon as their primary challenge on the front. They argue that the actions of Russian UAV operators played a decisive role in enabling assault groups to push into Pokrovsk. One soldier operating on the Pokrovsk axis said that, in his view, without such competent Russian drone crews, Russian infantry would not have been able to enter the city.

At the same time, Financial Times emphasizes that Rubikon units focus their main efforts not on Ukrainian infantry or equipment, but on Ukrainian UAV operators and logistical routes.