Kherson forces you to confront an uncomfortable reality about modern war: the frontline no longer begins where civilian life ends.

To be honest I disagree with this, this isn't new. Drones emphasize this fact, but it has been present since war began.

World War 2 involved the mass bombing of civilian areas by multiple countries, wars like the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars were fought entirely in the backyards of civilians. It is borderline offensive to history to keep repeating this trope because it makes engaging writing.

This isn't to say Ukraine isn't an acceleration of this or that the Ukraine war isn't a unique case, but we must write about war as a reoccuring nightmare not a novel development that magically breaks from the past as if peace was some state of amnesia that eliminates the context of previous wars so everything starts afresh and anew with the next war which sets off in an entirely new direction unconnected to past history.

This is NOT how war works and it supremely dangerous to believe it is.

That being said this is a great article and I can't imagine how tough these people have to be in Kherson.

edit one last point, the most important part to emphasize out of this is that russia has shown no desire to differentiate between Ukrainian civilians and Ukrainian combatants NOT the novelty of drone violence though it is brutal. Ukraine has not found itself incapable of smashing russian forces to pieces with drones without also killing many russian civilians as collateral... quite the opposite is true, Ukraine has demonstrated it is very precise and intentional with its military violence. On the other hand it is a CHOICE by russia to fight the way it does, the tech used to do it is less important than that heinous human choice.