The Ukrainian military is stepping up its campaign to destroy vehicles supplying Russian forces along crucial roads in occupied Ukraine using new AI drone technology, experts say. BBC Verify has confirmed footage of at least 14 incidents published in the past week of vehicles carrying food, fuel and ammunition being targeted along critical routes connecting Russia to Crimea and other occupied territories in southern Ukraine. Ukraine is starting to regain more ground than it is losing for the first time since 2023, analysis from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) indicates. After more than four years of war and increased Russian occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine, neither side has gained any significant ground in recent months. Experts say recent drone technology advancements, including the AI-enabled Hornet system, have allowed Ukraine to attack Russian targets travelling to the front lines at greater distances and with increased accuracy.

This week, with air raid warnings wailing in the distance, Kyiv held a funeral for two sisters. They had already lost their father who had been fighting on the front line. Their grieving mother is now the family's sole survivor. This is the human cost of the largest sustained Russian aerial assault so far - with 1,500 drones and 56 missiles fired at Ukraine within 48 hours. But the loss of life could have been even higher.

Inside the'kill-zone' on Ukraine's front line, where new weapons have transformed war After 225 days stuck in a front-line foxhole, the Ukrainian infantryman's muscles were so weak he could barely walk. His commanders had tried five times to swap him with another soldier - but they could never reach him. Rotating soldiers on the front line in eastern Ukraine is extremely difficult because of the constant threat of drones. This area near Kostyantynivka is currently one of the most dangerous hotspots and the Ukrainian military admits that Russian forces have reached its outskirts. Known as Kenya, the infantryman took two days to walk 11km (6.8 miles) to get back to his brigade, avoiding mines and hiding from drones to get out.

What are Russia's gains from the Iran war? 'We are not losers; we are winners' The group had reportedly been starving on the front line after up to 17 days without food deliveries and months without rotation. The fighters were holed up on the left, eastern bank of the Oskil River in the southeastern Donetsk region after Russian bombs destroyed the bridges connecting them to their brigade on the right bank. "They weren't listened to on the radio, or perhaps no one wanted to listen to them. My husband shouted and begged, saying there was no food and water," Silchuk wrote. She did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for an interview.

'Animals are traumatised too': Pet rescuers under fire in Ukraine On a morning in February, animal shelter staff were getting changed for their shift when a Russian drone slammed into the centre of their compound in the frontline Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. The steel door at the entrance probably saved their lives. More than a dozen animals sheltering at Give a Paw, Friend were not so lucky. It was terrifying, to put it mildly, says the group's head Iryna Didur. Residents rushed to help clean up the rubble and catch the animals that had escaped in terror.

Ukraine has responded to a war it didn't start by creating an industry it doesn't want, but could the nation's drone expertise help it rebuild? To learn more, gained exclusive access to the research labs, factories and military training schools behind Ukraine's drones Killhouse Academy, run by the 3rd Assault Brigade, is Ukraine's leading drone-pilot school. The grinding, attritional war between Russia and Ukraine is now entirely dominated by drones. Russia pummels Ukraine with long-range kamikaze aircraft and Ukraine knocks them out of the sky with specialised interceptors. The front line has transitioned from an artillery battle to a first-person-view drone fight, while ground-based robots are increasingly used to deliver ammunition and supplies, launch attacks and evacuate the wounded. As a result, in the four years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has created from nothing an entire industry and ecosystem capable of designing, manufacturing and operating a variety of ingenious drones.

Evidence is mounting that Elon Musk's decision to deny Russian forces access to his Starlink satellite-based internet service has blunted Moscow's advance, caused confusion among Russian soldiers and handed an advantage to Ukraine's defenders. And what can Ukraine's military achieve in the meantime? The Russians lost their ability to control the field, a Ukrainian drone operator who goes by the callsign Giovanni told us. I think they lost 50% of their capacity for offence, he said. That's what the numbers show.

Ukraine hails'real results' after Musk restricts Russian Starlink use Elon Musk's efforts to stop Russia from using Starlink satellites for drone attacks have delivered real results, a Ukrainian official said. Praising the SpaceX founder as a true champion of freedom and a true friend of the Ukrainian people, defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Musk had swiftly responded when he was told Russian drones with Starlink connectivity were operating in the country. The drones have been linked to a number of recent deadly attacks by Russia on Ukraine, including one on a moving passenger train which left six people dead. Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorised use of Starlink by Russia have worked, Musk wrote on X. Let us know if more needs to be done.

A Ukrainian soldier has described the moment a passenger train was targeted by Russian drones, killing five people. When a carriage on the train was hit in northeastern Ukraine, passengers threw themselves on the floor in panic and the military officer told them to get out immediately. Without his instruction, issued moments before the carriage burst into flames, many more passengers could have died. The officer, whose army call-sign is Omar, is part of Ukraine's 93rd brigade. He was among the passengers travelling on a route from Chop, on the border with Slovakia, to Barvinkove, the last stop before the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Romance and parenthood feel remote in Ukraine: 'I haven't had a date since before the war' Sitting in a wine bar in Kyiv on a Saturday night, Daria, 34, opens a dating app, scrolls, then puts her phone away. After spending more than a decade in committed relationships she's been single for a long time. I haven't had a proper date since before the war, she says. Four years of war have forced Ukrainians to rethink nearly every aspect of daily life. Increasingly that includes decisions about relationships and parenthood - and these choices are, in turn, shaping the future of a country in which both marriage and birth rates are falling.