In The Cities As At The Front Of War That Is Also Industrial
By: Giorgio Provinciali
Live from Ukraine
Pavlohrad – crushed by bombs, long-range drones, and other Russian missiles, including ballistic missiles, which severely strain Ukrainian defenses – that lack PAC interceptors for Patriot systems and Aster for SAMP/T – now faces the threat of loitering munitions carried by Geran’ and Shahed, which, acting as mother-drones, release dozens of them into the air every day.
These aren’t just reconnaissance tools or spy balloons but actual flying mines that, once released, settle on the ground and remain there until the intended target activates its attack procedure as it passes by. The drone then rises into the air and slams into the target, destroying it.
For this reason, Ukrainian technicians are braving danger, cold, and weather to protect at least the main road carrying logistics to the Pokrovsk front. Along that route, villages like Dmytrivka, Mykolaivka, and Petropavlivka are daily bombarded by all kinds of Russian drones, so much so that drivers must anxiously scan not only the road but also its edges and the sky.
The dozens of burned-out vehicle carcasses along the road are a grim reminder of a horrendous end decided by digital killers rather than soldiers. Keeping cities like Pavlohrad, located about a hundred kilometers from the kill zone around Pokrovsk, under constant threat is the only thing that truly remains: technology.
Russian troops remain bogged down on that side of the road, about fifty kilometers far from where they were 12 years ago, but the tools they have at their disposal allow them to achieve objectives that were unthinkable just a few months ago.
A simple breath of air around Pavlohrad makes this clear. The acrid smell of explosives mingles with the scent of coal, as targeted Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have forced a reorientation toward that energy source. As a result, coal is now distributed free of charge to residents of districts like those mentioned above, so they can heat their homes. Very few buildings in the center of Pavlohrad are still intact: most have facades peeled by shrapnel or eroded by direct hits. The glass in windows and shopfronts has mostly been replaced with plywood or boarded up with wooden boards.
What, according to the old conception of military maneuvers, we would have called the «front line», has shifted far less than the Russian narrative suggests. The capacity for technological projection has instead grown exponentially. This creates a paradigmatic transformation, clearly visible in Pavlohrad, where the concept of line has been extended to that of space.
The smell of coal mixed with explosives further expands this representation of modern warfare on a temporal scale: forced energy regression is, in fact, an attack on progress, not just infrastructure.
Targeting energy means rolling back development to gain a technological advantage. Twenty-first-century warfare is therefore also industrial.
Consistent with our direct experience at the front, in rear-line cities like Pavlohrad, we perceive how the non-linearity of modern warfare implicitly introduces a break with the classic pattern: territorial advance is now marginal compared to technological expansion.
To extend the radius of death, stratify emergencies, saturate defenses, and assert technologically, a soldier no longer needs to shoot. A remote operator or even an algorithm suffices. Innovation is thus targeted to slow it down: Russian bombs aim to deny energy to slow growth.
Pavlohrad has never been physically reached by any Russian soldier: it has been incorporated into the operational space of industrial warfare. Similarly, while Moscow’s troops have remained bogged down in the same plains of Donbas for over a decade, technology is reshaping warfare, progressively transforming every Ukrainian city into different zones of the same front.
The ongoing blackouts severely damaged our house’s heating system in Western Ukraine while we were in the Donbas.
Without electricity, the pump couldn’t circulate the liquid while the fire was lit. As a result, the system caught fire, and the whole house was at risk of burning. Fortunately, it did not, but the whole system needs to be changed, and the house needs to be restored. Tubes are all bent, walls are blackened by haze, and the heating system doesn’t work, requiring an entirely new system.
We are doing our best since Alla’s parents live there, but there’s still a lot to work on here, too, as the people around us are in no better situation.
We’re renewing our fundraising campaign and thanking everyone who joins us in helping us restore what Russia is destroying. Even a small donation helps. We’ll keep you updated on developments.
Thank you all, dear friends
城市：亦为工业化战争的前线
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
翻译：旺财球球
乌克兰前线报道
帕夫洛赫拉德——这里被炸弹、远程无人机以及其他俄方导弹（包括弹道导弹）摧毁，严重消耗了乌克兰的防御力量；乌方缺乏用于“爱国者”体系的PAC拦截器和用于SAMP/T的Aster，如今还面临由格兰和沙赫德携带的巡航/滞空弹药的威胁，这些“母体”无人机每天都会投放数十枚此类武器。
这些并非单纯的侦察工具或间谍气球，而是真正的飞行地雷：一旦释放便落地潜伏，直到目标经过时触发攻击程序。无人机随即起飞，撞击目标并将其摧毁。
（图：一名乌克兰技术人员在乌克兰帕夫洛赫拉德通往波克罗夫斯克的道路沿线搭建反无人机通道 ——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
因此，乌克兰技术人员冒着危险、严寒与恶劣天气，守护着至少通往波克罗夫斯克前线的主要后勤运输干道。在那条路线上，德米特里夫卡、米科拉伊甫卡和彼得羅帕夫利夫卡等村庄每天都遭到各种俄制无人机轰炸，以至于司机们不得不紧张地不仅盯着路面，还要警惕路边和天空。
沿路成堆烧焦的车辆车壳，惨烈地提醒人们这是由数字杀手而非士兵裁决的可怕结局。让像帕夫洛赫拉德这类距离波克罗夫斯克周边“杀伤带”约百公里的城市始终处于威胁之下的，唯有技术。
俄军在那条路的另一侧仍然陷在原地，距离十二年前他们的位置约有五十公里，但他们手中的工具使他们得以实现数月前还不可想象的目标。
在帕夫洛赫拉德随便吸一口气就能感受到，刺鼻的炸药气与煤炭的气味交织在一起——因为俄军针对乌克兰能源基础设施的定点攻击，迫使乌克兰向煤炭能源回流。因此，煤炭如今被免费分发给上述地区的居民，以便他们取暖。帕夫洛赫拉德市中心很少有建筑仍完好：大多数立面被弹片剥落或被直接命中风化破损。窗户与店面玻璃大多被胶合板或木板替代并封堵。
按旧有的军事机动作战观念，我们所称的“前线”并未像俄方叙述所说的那样大幅后移。反倒是技术投射的能力呈指数级增长。这带来了范式变革，在帕夫洛赫拉德尤为明显：线的概念被拓展为空间的概念。
煤与炸药混合的气味，在时间维度上进一步扩展了对现代战争的表征：被迫的能源倒退，实际上是一种对进步的打击，而不仅仅是对基础设施的破坏。针对能源就是通过回退发展来获得技术优势。因此，二十一世纪的战争也是工业性的。
（图：乌克兰帕夫洛赫拉德通往波克罗夫斯克路边的一辆汽车残骸 ——版权所有, Giorgio Provinciali）
根据我们在前线的直接经历，在像帕夫洛赫拉德这样的后方城市中，我们能感知到现代战争的非线性隐含地打破了经典模式：相比技术扩张，领土推进已变得边缘化。
为了扩大杀伤半径、分层应急、饱和防御并实现技术上的压制，士兵不再需要开火。一个远程操作者甚至一个算法就足够了。创新本身因此成为被针对的对象以遏制其发展：俄方的炸弹旨在切断能源以拖慢增长。
（图：我在乌克兰帕夫洛赫拉德拍下的这张照片 ——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
帕夫洛赫拉德从未被任何俄军士兵实际占领：它已被纳入工业化战争的作战空间。同样，尽管莫斯科军队在顿巴斯的平原上滞留已逾十年，技术正在重塑战争，逐步将每一座乌克兰城市转变为同一条战线的不同战区。
（图：我与Alla在乌克兰帕夫洛赫拉德为本文进行报道 ——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
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持续的停电严重损坏了我们在乌克兰西部的家中的供暖系统，而我们当时就在顿巴斯。
没有电，点着的炉火无法通过水泵循环热水。结果，系统起火，整个房子面临着烧毁的风险。幸而未被烧毁，但整个系统需要更换，房子也需要修复。管道都是歪的，墙壁被烟雾熏黑，供暖系统无法正常工作，需要彻底更换。
我们正在尽最大努力，因为Alla的父母住在那里，但这里还有许多工作要做，周围的人处境也好不到哪儿去。
我们正在重启筹款活动，感谢每一位支持我们修复被俄罗斯摧毁一切的朋友。即使是小额捐款也有帮助。我们会及时更新进展。
感谢大家，朋友们。
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