'Get down!' the Ukrainian commander bellows, as a high-speed drone armed with a 105kg warhead hurtles across the field.
asserted
drone → get → field
We hit the deck.
asserted
We → hit → deck
A rocket booster that should have propelled this unmanned kamikaze monoplane to 60mph in under a second has detached prematurely.
asserted
that → propel → second
Now it is spiralling wildly, lighting up the night sky like a Catherine wheel on bonfire night.
asserted
it → spiral → night
Without the extra thrust offered by the booster, the drone – and its huge payload – are struggling to gain height.
asserted
drone → offer → height
We brace for impact.
asserted
We → brace → impact
This Ukrainian-made weapon is intended for the enemy but appears about to crash into home soil and explode in a hail of razor-sharp shrapnel.
asserted
weapon → make → shrapnel
Seconds pass.
asserted
Seconds → pass → ?
The distinctive whirring of the propeller gradually grows fainter.
asserted
whirring → grow → propeller
Despite the premature issue with the booster, the drone is now airborne and cruising at 16,000ft towards the target over 100 miles away, deep in occupied Ukraine.
asserted
drone → cruise → Ukraine
On its wing, scrawled in Ukrainian with marker pen, are the words: 'Greetings to you, you bitches, from all the children who were killed.'
asserted
who → scrawl → children
It's the fourth such drone that has been fired in the past few minutes from our secret location in eastern Ukraine.
asserted
that → fire → Ukraine
The bearded commander – call sign 'Variah' meaning 'Viking' – gets to his feet.
asserted
commander → call → feet
'This is why we need a shelter,' he jokes, as it disappears into the darkness.
asserted
it → need → darkness
Deadly: Specialist unit prepares a launch site for drones near Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine
The drones are assembled in covert factories spread across Ukraine, so that the Russians cannot cripple their capacity with a single strike
asserted
Russians → prepare → strike
These Ukrainian built FP-2 drones are proving to be Russia's nemesis.
asserted
drones → build → ?
They have slowed the enemy's advance in the Donbas to a crawl, while crippling Vladimir Putin's oil exports and lucrative 'shadow fleet' in the Black Sea off Crimea.
asserted
They → slow → Crimea
If Moscow identified our launch site, they'd fire everything from jet-powered Shahed drones to ballistic missiles to destroy it long before these £50,000 monoplanes made it past the 'kill zone' and deep into enemy territory.
asserted
monoplanes → identify → territory
Soon another drone starts up, its two-stroke piston engine screeching higher and higher like a demented grass strimmer.
asserted
engine → start → strimmer
We are stood 100 metres away from the launch platform where a team is huddled around a control box linked to the drone.
asserted
team → stand → drone
'Pusk!' a launch pilot yells, meaning 'Fire!'
asserted
pilot → yell → Pusk
They flick a switch and press a trigger button which ignites the rocket strapped to the drone's underbelly.
asserted
which → flick → underbelly
It explodes into light with the thud-hiss of a giant matchstick, sending the craft soaring upwards with an ear-splitting whoosh.
asserted
craft → explode → whoosh
In total, I watched six FP-2 drones being launched from this site.
asserted
drones → watch → site
We can hear the buzz of even more being fired into the night sky by another special-forces team a few miles south.
asserted
We → hear → team
Led by Ukraine's elite 20th Unmanned Systems Brigade, nicknamed 'K-2', it's all part of the desperate race to hammer Russian logistics, squeeze Moscow's cashflow and buy Kyiv the critical breathing space it needs to survive the coming winter.
asserted
it → lead → winter
The FP-2s the Daily Mail saw were all destined for a key Russian base in occupied Luhansk.
asserted
Mail → see → Luhansk
Other strikes across the Donbas have severed railway lines and blown up fuel reserves.
asserted
strikes → sever → reserves
Meanwhile, deep strikes inside Russia have crippled its oil refineries with the aim of smashing the domestic economy and bringing the war home to Putin's people.
asserted
strikes → cripple → people
Against all the odds, this daring ingenuity has combined to once more swing battlefield momentum back in Kyiv's favour this year.
asserted
ingenuity → combine → favour
But now, unbelievably, this entire strategy stands at risk following an extraordinary decision, allegedly made by Donald Trump, to restrict Elon Musk's Starlink internet connection for Ukrainians.
uncertain
strategy → stand → Ukrainians
It is only through the billionaire's satellite network that pilots can guide the drones remotely to their targets.
asserted
pilots → guide → targets
On Wednesday, a 100mph 'speed limit' was imposed on its small terminals, which are attached to drones to pick up the Starlink signal.
asserted
which → impose → signal
These Ukrainian built FP-2 drones are proving to be Russia's nemesis
The FP-2s the Daily Mail saw were all destined for a key Russian base in occupied Luhansk
If they travel faster than that, which drones must do to evade Russian defences, the feed cuts and they crash.
asserted
they → build → defences
While K-2 could not comment on current operations, it is middle and deep strike missions that have been disrupted.
uncertain
that → comment → operations
A Ukrainian military source told the Daily Mail some teams have been grounded, with fears Russia will now seize the advantage.
asserted
Russia → tell → advantage
Musk insists that while his firm SpaceX produces the terminals, its military use is run by the Pentagon.
asserted
use → insist → Pentagon
'Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and POTUS [President of the US],' he said yesterday.
asserted
he → decide → US
If it is the work of Donald Trump, it would reinforce Kyiv's suspicion that he is trying to stop them attacking Putin's oil refineries.
asserted
them → reinforce → refineries
Last Friday, the US President –desperate to lower fuel prices ahead of next month's midterm elections – announced a deal to buy 1.8million tonnes of Russian diesel in the coming months.
asserted
President → lower → months
…and 94 more, not listed.
The Aporia
