A Drone’s View Behind Russian Lines: Cratered Fields and Charred Armor

The images a reconnaissance drone sent back to Ukrainian forces provided a vivid portrait of the Russian side of the war zone.

Damaged houses gave way to cratered fields on Ukraine’s southern steppe. There was burned-out armor in a scorched forest. A jagged Russian trench along a tree line had been blasted by American-supplied cluster munitions barely a week earlier, according to Lt. Ashot Arutiunian, the commander of the unit that recorded the images.

He pointed to holes in the roofs of…