Deep in a labyrinthine bunker in northeastern Ukraine hides the headquarters of a commander who personifies the new, fast-evolving technologies of war. This is the domain of Yurii Fedorenko, commander of the Achilles Regiment—a high-tech drone unit waging a 24/7 battle against the Russian war machine.
"The new calculation will be released now?" he asks one of his men, scanning the glowing screens of their command center. Eighteen drones hum through the skies at that moment – eyes in the air, hunting targets. Their mission is simple: find the enemy, strike first, and hold the line before Ukraine's battered infantry is overwhelmed.
We've been granted rare access to Achilles' nerve center. From here, the battle-hardened 33-year-old Fedorenko leads a force of 2,000 men and women—a cybernetic extension of the Ukrainian military, fighting an enemy that adapts as quickly as it advances.
The Battle for Kupiansk
Last fall, the Russians were clawing toward Kupiansk, a key industrial city. Their plan: reach the Oskil River, establish a foothold, and expand. Winter came, and the war did not freeze. Russian forces pushed past the river north of Kupiansk and also reached the eastern edge of the city.
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With Ukraine losing ground, how much of a difference can Achilles make?
"The enemy takes crazy losses in soldiers and equipment without getting significant tactical results," Fedorenko tells Scripps News reporter Jason Bellini.
His unit's strategy is simple: stay ahead. Ukraine's forces are outnumbered and outgunned, so Achilles turns to innovation. The Russians jam their signals. They deploy fiber-optic cables, hair-thin and nearly undetectable, connecting pilot to drone, circumventing electronic interference. It's a makeshift solution that doesn't work in all situations; the cables can get tangled in trees and other objects. So they're also working to deploy AI-driven targeting systems that take over when the human link is severed.
Technology is a moving target in this war, and Fedorenko knows it.
The Work of the Entire Mechanism
"If you think that doing tasks with a drone is one pilot flying somewhere with a drone and killing something, it is not true," Fedorenko explains. "It is the work of the entire mechanism. Flight capacity is 30% of the total number of personnel. The rest are the units that provide the support for the combat tasks."
Those include staffing command centers, research and development, repair workshops, security, analytics and training.
A Secret Factory of Death
We're led to what looks like an ordinary house. Inside, it's a clandestine factory—a drone assembly plant churning out the Achilles Regiment's killer machines. 3D printers hum in the background, crafting components for FPV drones.
"This printer is making antennas," one technician tells Bellini, without breaking his gaze from the machine. "These run all day, even at night."
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Fedorenko says Ukraine's drone production operates on the "hydra principle": cut off one head, and another grows. If the Russians destroy a factory, many more (he won't say how many) remain.
Fedorenko knows this war is as much about survival as it is about winning. He joined the army in 2014, was wounded, then pivoted to law and politics, becoming a deputy of Kyiv's city council. But when Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly three years ago, he returned to the battlefield. His call sign? "Achilles." The name wasn't self-given—his resemblance to the warrior in the 2004 film "Troy" inspired it. Because the regiment is named Achilles, his subordinates typically address him as "Yurii."
He has become the face of Ukraine's recruitment drive – his face on billboards on the highway to Kharkiv.
A rising political figure, some say he could be a national leader when the dust settles.
"What do you want to do when the war ends?" I ask him.
"My life will definitely be connected with the state of Ukraine," he says.
But first, Ukraine must survive. As the war grinds into its fourth year, the stakes have never been higher.
