With suit-clad employees sipping coffees, Skyeton's offices in Ukraine's Kyiv region look like a typical tech start-up.

But the company -- whose exact location is kept secret -- is actually a drone-manufacturing hub for the Ukrainian armed forces, churning out unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to support the country's defence against the Russian invasion.

"This is a drone war," Skyeton CEO Andriy Fialkovsky told AFP in an interview.

Both Ukraine and Russia have used UAVs extensively throughout the two-year conflict.

Above the battlefield in the east and south, drones fitted with high-definition cameras scope out enemy positions. At night, craft packed with explosives try to strike targets deep behind the frontlines.

Skyeton manufactures the Raybird, a long-range surveillance drone that can fly up to 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) in offline mode, and up to 120 kilometres while connected to an operator.

For Technical Director Maksym Levkivsky, drones will be crucial to Ukraine's chances of victory.

"The Russians have a huge advantage in terms of the number of people, tanks, planes and money," he said.

"So the only way for us to win is to have a technological advantage."

Ukraine is........

© International Business Times