The Darth Vader theme tune suddenly bleeps from the underbelly of a Ukrainian drone as a marine attaches a mortar round to it before launching the aircraft against a Russian position.
The Ukrainians say their enemy fears this kind of rotary drone in particular because of the size of the bombs it can drop.
Unmanned aircraft used by both sides have transformed the battlefield in the nearly three years since Russia launched its full-scale war.
But another transformation is also looming as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.
Offering a sense of the mood on the ground, several Ukrainian troops told Sky News they were strongly against any kind of brokered deal that gifts land to Moscow.
“I hope the outcome of this war will be just,” said Major Vladyslav Tovstii, 28, commander of the Korsar battalion, 38th Separate Marine Brigade, speaking at a drone command centre in eastern Ukrainewhere his marines call in and track strikes on Russian targets.
“For me, a just peace is the return of our territory. That’s the only understanding I have; there’s no other way.”
Image: ‘A just peace is the return of our territory,’ Major Vladyslav Tovstii said
Battle-hardened despite his young age, Vladyslav has been fighting since before Russia launched its all-out invasion on 24 February 2022.
Standing in front of a wall of screens, showing video feeds from surveillance aircraft and attack drones, the commander gave his view on the possibility of some sort of compromise deal with Vladimir Putin – something that Mr Trump may well attempt to achieve.
“It would mean that justice in the world is not as I see it,” Major Tovstii said.
“A compromise is no longer about justice; it’s about concessions, which means that if you are stronger, you can take what you want.”
His brigade is among the units attempting to stop a grinding Russian advance towards the frontline city of Pokrovsk.
The use of drones is a key way for Ukraine to compensate for a lack of manpower compared to the number of soldiers Russia is sacrificing daily for every inch of captured land.
But Russian forces also operate large numbers of unmanned aircraft, with each side constantly adapting their machines to be able to fly further and carry larger payloads.
Another evolution is in the area of electronic warfare, which is designed to jam the signals of enemy drones and force them out of the sky. Countering this threat is critical.
Sky News was given exclusive access to a makeshift Ukrainian drone factory where engineers and other specialists from the marine brigade adapt aircraft to give them a better chance of defeating Russian jamming efforts and flying deeper into Russian-held territory.
“If you don’t want to sacrifice your men, your soldiers, you better make this fight distant, right?” said a technician at the factory, who went by the name “Cartman” from the cartoon series South Park.
He said the success rate for his unit’s drones is slightly above 50%, but even that level is getting harder to sustain as Russia improves its electronic warfare tactics.
Armed with tools and hunched over drone parts, the team here is working as hard as ever despite growing uncertainty about the future of the war.
“This is such a waste of time, of my time,” said Cartman, who volunteered to join the military last year, giving up a senior job at an international company. He spoke in English.
“While some people are creating technologies to save life and to make life better, we are working on technologies – not just to kill the enemy, but to destroy him completely.
“This is out of (contrary to) common sense, but we have no choice. There’s no way out. We have to win this war.”
Image: Cartman warned Donald Trump ‘you cannot make friends with a shark attacking you’
Asked what his message was for Mr Trump, Cartman said: “You cannot make friends with a shark attacking you. You cannot talk common sense if the animal wants to kill you.
“What negotiation skills will you apply if you have just to fight for your survival?”
Back with the marine who had The Imperial March from Star Wars bleeping out of his drone, the attack operation is under way.
The serviceman raced with a colleague to an underground shelter after attaching the mortar round to the drone, which is called “Perun”.
It is dangerous to spend too much time outside because Russian eyes are also in the sky.
After the aircraft took off, they tracked its progress on a screen which showed live footage from a video camera also fixed to the machine.
Once over a Russian position close to Pokrovsk – where the heaviest fighting is taking place – the explosive was dropped. The team confirmed a hit.
Oscar, a company commander in charge of this unit, said he had two views on the possibility of a deal that meant Russia held on to some Ukrainian land and the conflict was frozen.
On the one hand, the 22-year-old said it would be good if it meant no more Ukrainians dying.
But on the other hand, speaking in broken English, he said: “If we froze this war, it gives our enemy time for preparing [the] next attack. And this is so bad because we don’t have many people.”
Image: ‘We don’t have many people’ left to fight Russia if they regroup, Oscar said
Asked how he felt about the prospect of a frozen war, Oscar said he would be sad “because my many friends dying… I lost… men of my family… For what? For what [were they] dying?”
Additional reporting by Azad Safarov, Ukraine producer
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Donald Trump “let’s do a deal” as he offered the US a partnership over Ukraine’s stores of rare earth and minerals.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump said he wanted Ukraine to supply the US with critical resources in exchange for financial support in its war with Russia.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Mr Zelenskyy said: “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it.”
While emphasising that Kyiv was not proposing “giving away” its resources, he said he was open to a mutually beneficial partnership to develop them jointly.
Rare earths are a group of 17 metals that are vital in the production of high-performance magnets, electric motors and consumer electronics.
Mr Zelenskyy touted the country’s reserves of titanium and uranium as Europe’s largest.
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According to the World Economic Forum, Ukrainealso has the potential to become a key supplier of lithium, beryllium, manganese, gallium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite and nickel.
Showing a map of Ukraine’s mineral deposits, he then said Russiacurrently has control of less than 20% of the country’s mineral resources – but that includes about half its rare earth deposits.
Image: Zelenskyy said Ukraine has Europe’s largest stores of titanium and uranium. Pic: Reuters
“Putin is not just grabbing them [minerals] along with the land, he is already thinking about how to get other partners in his alliance – North Korea, Iran… and he will give them access,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
“This is very rich land. This does not mean that we are giving it away to anyone, even to strategic partners. We are talking about partnership…
“Let’s develop this together, make money, and most importantly, it’s about the security of the Western world.”
The Ukrainian president added that Kyiv and the White House were discussing the idea of using the country’s underground gas storage sites to store American liquefied natural gas, calling it “very interesting”.
He also said he would like to discuss the US having priority when it came to rebuilding Ukraine, saying it would amount to “a lot of money for business”.
‘Not accepting Russia’s ultimatums’
He also insisted that Mr Trump must meet with him before he meets with the Russian president, “otherwise it will look like a dialogue about Ukraine without Ukraine”.
He added: “I don’t know what compromises can be discussed at the negotiating table, we have not reached that point…
“It is important for people to understand that Ukraine is negotiating, not accepting ultimatums from Russia.”
He also stressed Ukraine’s need for security guarantees from its allies as part of any settlement.
It comes as Mr Trump said he may meet with Mr Zelenskyy in the White House as early as next week. The two last met in New York in September last year.
Mr Trump also repeated his interest in meeting the Russian president with whom he said he always had a “good relationship”.
Speaking to reporters while meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Mr Trump said: “I’d like to see it end, just on a human basis. I’d like to see that end. It’s a ridiculous war.”
Mr Zelenskyy also told Reuters in his interview that thousands of North Korean soldiers have now returned to fight Kyiv’s forces in the Kursk region of Russia.
Hamas has released the names of three Israeli hostages it says it will release today in the fifth such swap of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza.
The hostages are Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy, Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a Telegram post.
An Israeli official confirmed Israel had received the three names from Hamas.
In return for the captives’ release, Hamas said it expects 183 Palestinian prisoners to be released.
Image: Jabalia, in northern Gaza, after months of Israeli attacks.
Pic: Reuters/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Both Mr Ami, 56, and Mr Sharabi, 52, were taken from Kibbutz Be’eri during the 7 October attack. The cross-border attack saw around 1,200 Israelis killed and around 250 people taken hostage.
Mr Levy, 34, was abducted from the Nova music festival.
Of the Palestinian prisoners being freed, 18 have been serving life sentences, 54 were serving long sentences and the vast majority, 111, were detained in Gaza during the war.
Eli Sharabi
Mr Sharabi’s wife Lianne Sharabi was born in Bristol.
She, along with their children, 16-year-old Noiya and 13-year-old Yahel, were killed in the 7 October attack.
His brother Yossi was also killed after being taken hostage.
In a statement after news he would be released was announced, Mr Sharabi’s lawyers said the “family has already lost too much… [they] are pleased and relieved that Eli Sharabi is reportedly on the list for release by Hamas”.
It added: “It is long past time to bring Eli home.”
Or Levy
Mr Levy was captured by militants from a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival.
His wife Einav was killed during the 7 October attack. Their son Almog, a toddler, is staying with his grandparents.
Mr Levy is from the city of Rishon Lezion, where he worked as a computer programmer.
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2:40
Michael Levy speaks to Sky News about his brother
Some of Mr Levy’s family previously spoke about his kidnapping and the death of his wife.
Speaking around Hanukkah last year, his brother Michael Levy told Sky News’s Yousra Elbagir: “I have three little girls but it won’t be the same. Hanukkah is a happy holiday – you light candles, you sing and eat all sorts of things but for us it is not a real holiday without Or.”
Ohad Ben Ami
Mr Ben Ami, a father of three, was taken hostage with his wife Raz, who was released during the brief ceasefire period in November.
His daughter Ella Ben Ami previously spoke to Sky News about missing her dad Mr Ami, as she pleaded for his release.
“On the eve of Christmas, on the 24 December, it will be his birthday, and I don’t want to celebrate it without him,” she told Sky News in 2023.
Ms Ami was previously one of the first to tell the world what happened on 7 October, calling an Israeli TV channel while hiding.
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1:11
Ella Ben Ami: ‘I miss my Dad and I need my Dad with me’ this Christmas Eve
Row over aid access
Earlier on Friday, Hamas accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire accord and held off announcing the names of the Israeli hostages until the deadline had passed.
The militant group claimed Israel delayed the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying food and other humanitarian supplies agreed under the truce deal and held back all but a fraction of the tents and mobile homes needed to provide people shelter in the devastated enclave.
“This demonstrates clear manipulation of relief and shelter priorities,” Hamas said in a statement.
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17:34
Trump 100 Day 17: Can Trump take over the Gaza Strip?
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that is overseeing the aid deliveries into Gaza, denied the accusation.
It added Israel would “not tolerate violations by Hamas”.
The claims and counter-claims highlight the fragility and uncertainty of the ceasefire.
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1:09
Gaza ceasefire deal explained
This has been heightened by US President Donald Trump recently saying the US could take over Gaza and move the Palestinian population out.
Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and displaced the majority of the strip’s population.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Donald Trump “let’s do a deal” as he offered the US a partnership over Ukraine’s stores of rare earth and minerals.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump said he wanted Ukraine to supply the US with critical resources in exchange for financial support in its war with Russia.
In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Mr Zelenskyy said: “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it.”
While emphasising that Kyiv was not proposing “giving away” its resources, he said he was open to a mutually beneficial partnership to develop them jointly.
Rare earths are a group of 17 metals that are vital in the production of high-performance magnets, electric motors and consumer electronics.
Mr Zelenskyy touted the country’s reserves of titanium and uranium as Europe’s largest.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
According to the World Economic Forum, Ukrainealso has the potential to become a key supplier of lithium, beryllium, manganese, gallium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite and nickel.
Showing a map of Ukraine’s mineral deposits, he then said Russiacurrently has control of less than 20% of the country’s mineral resources – but that includes about half its rare earth deposits.
Image: Zelenskyy said Ukraine has Europe’s largest stores of titanium and uranium. Pic: Reuters
“Putin is not just grabbing them [minerals] along with the land, he is already thinking about how to get other partners in his alliance – North Korea, Iran… and he will give them access,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
“This is very rich land. This does not mean that we are giving it away to anyone, even to strategic partners. We are talking about partnership…
“Let’s develop this together, make money, and most importantly, it’s about the security of the Western world.”
The Ukrainian president added that Kyiv and the White House were discussing the idea of using the country’s underground gas storage sites to store American liquefied natural gas, calling it “very interesting”.
He also said he would like to discuss the US having priority when it came to rebuilding Ukraine, saying it would amount to “a lot of money for business”.
‘Not accepting Russia’s ultimatums’
He also insisted that Mr Trump must meet with him before he meets with the Russian president, “otherwise it will look like a dialogue about Ukraine without Ukraine”.
He added: “I don’t know what compromises can be discussed at the negotiating table, we have not reached that point…
“It is important for people to understand that Ukraine is negotiating, not accepting ultimatums from Russia.”
He also stressed Ukraine’s need for security guarantees from its allies as part of any settlement.
It comes as Mr Trump said he may meet with Mr Zelenskyy in the White House as early as next week. The two last met in New York in September last year.
Mr Trump also repeated his interest in meeting the Russian president with whom he said he always had a “good relationship”.
Speaking to reporters while meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Mr Trump said: “I’d like to see it end, just on a human basis. I’d like to see that end. It’s a ridiculous war.”
Mr Zelenskyy also told Reuters in his interview that thousands of North Korean soldiers have now returned to fight Kyiv’s forces in the Kursk region of Russia.