Fiber-optic drones. Thermal-seeking eyes. AI-guided killers. This isn’t science fiction, it’s Tuesday in Zaporizhzhia.
Advanced drone technology continuously monitors the battlefield, drastically reducing opportunities for cover or respite. Soldiers must maintain constant vigilance, knowing that every movement can be detected and tracked. This sustained pressure shapes every moment of their day.
Whether the target is a HIMARS launcher or a single soldier, all are tracked and analyzed. Nothing goes unnoticed. Everything becomes a potential target. The war is a relentless dynamic of concealment and strategy, where every move balances survival with the fight for advantage.
The soldiers tell me the rules:
- Never flash a white light flashlight
- Never walk in a line
- Never warm your meal in the same spot twice
- Never stay longer in the open than you can hold your breath
I’ve heard these rules sitting beside them, not across a Zoom screen. I serve as a trauma psychotherapist working directly with combat medics and frontline defenders. I’ve been to the trenches, the field hospitals, makeshift clinics and command posts. I’ve walked with those who carry stretchers through open terrain, risking every step to a mine below or a drone above.
Defense Tech for Ukraine (DTU) is a civilian-led incubator and developer of tactical solutions responding in real time. In addition to my work with DAWN supporting Ukrainian defenders, I also volunteer with DTU, where we actively support frontline innovation and defense efforts, helping bridge the gap between the frontline defenders’ needs and technological innovations. We meet with the frontline defenders weekly, sharing updates on the technology that DTU and our partners are developing, and rapidly respond and adjust to their needs and requests. While our developers receive live feedback from the front, innovations are tested and improved promptly. Our partnerships and connections to the front lines are necessitated by the urgency of war and built around our commitment to readying aid at the supply level the battalions’ defense requires.
DTU doesn’t wait. We don’t prototype for perfection; we build for battlefield urgency. While formal defense contracts drown in procurement purgatory, our coalition moves. We sped the development of fiber-optic drone systems immune to russian jammers, are developing and testing portable acoustic detectors, drone interceptors among other much-needed tools for frontline use. We iterate and release in weeks, not quarters.
Availability of real-time solutions that are tailored to the evolving needs of the combat environment, reduces cognitive strain and operational uncertainty of the Ukrainian defenders. It reduces their sense of isolation and reminds the men and women on the front lines that they are not alone in the fight. This allows them to stay focused, make clearer decisions, and manage stress under sustained pressure. Support that reflects their input reinforces a sense of agency and connection, both of which are protective for mental health. Effective defense support directly serves to promote psychological resilience and sustain critical life-saving efforts on the battlefield, because when these tools reach the front, they’re not just devices. They provide crucial moments for the sky not to see you; brief windows where a soldier can breathe, regroup, and hold on to the will to persevere.
This is not a sterile invention. This is innovation born from people coming together believing and fighting for dignity, integrity, and a right to exist.
And when you hear the buzz of a drone?
We’ve already heard it too. And we’re already building what comes next.
Your donation can directly support:
- Rapid development and delivery of next-generation counter-drone technology
- Field-ready drone interception tools for medical teams
- Rapid-response training for evacuation under drone threat
- Emergency deployments of engineers to influence developments on the front
Yulia Brockdorf is a psychotherapist and dietitian, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine and the Academy on Integrative Health and Medicine. She holds advanced practice credentials in several fields. She has lectured at universities and medical schools and has facilitated training for psychiatry residents. Her academic work has been published in peer-reviewed literature. Ms. Brockdorf has been featured on television and radio, including Oregon’s Think Out Loud.
Ms. Brockdorf provides front-line psychotherapy and delivers critical aid to Ukrainian units along the front lines where volunteers rarely venture. She is a volunteer at Defense Tech for Ukraine (DTU), a nonprofit tech incubator supporting Ukraine’s defense. Yulia is also the co-founder and president of the nonprofit organization DAWN and champions both local and international efforts in global security.