Using high-tech drones, Russia is pressing aerial advantage against beleaguered Ukrainian artillery [Video]

Rumbling out of its forest hideout, the hulking German-supplied howitzer has only a few minutes to fire before slipping back under cover to evade Russian surveillance in the skies above.

Across the hills and valleys of the east, Ukrainian artillery units play a cat-and-mouse game with Russian drones hunting high-value artillery weapons such as this self-propelled Panzerhaubitze 2000.

Moscow’s troops have stepped up ground attacks along the 621-mile front in the south and east of Ukraine, threatening some of the industrialized Donetsk region’s last big cities held by Kyiv more than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

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Counterbattery efforts are crucial to suppressing enemy fire that rains on Ukrainian lines and artillery units, and paves the way for Russian advances.

Crews including the one Reuters recently visited, part of the 43rd Artillery Brigade, say they face increasing harassment from enemy drones that have become a staple of Russia’s arsenal.

“There were (attacks) …