In a foggy field in northeast Ukraine, four soldiers stare at red and yellow dots on a screen in ?the back of a van, armed with interceptor drones and energy drinks to get through the night.

These pilots, and about a thousand other crews like them, are on the frontlines of Ukraine¡¯s drive to knock one of Russia¡¯s most potent weapons out of the war: the Shahed drone.

¡°Even if you use 50 drones to shoot down one Shahed, it¡¯s worth it,¡± said Borys, the commander of the crew, who was a TV news producer before the war upended his life. ¡°One Shahed can fly in and destroy something far more valuable.¡±