DONETSK REGION (Reuters) -For months, Ukraine has picked off Russian soldiers by the thousand around the frontline city of Pokrovsk, using small drones armed with bombs to tie down a numerically superior force.

Bohdana Zhupanyna had planned to use the last two weeks of her pregnancy in Ukraine brushing up on parenting skills and preparing for the arrival of her daughter.

Shahed-style drones are deadly systems that Russia has been using to strike Ukrainian cities for nearly three years.