While Ukraine/Russia has seen increase usage the first real usage of drones was during the Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan skirmish (2020 I think?)
I’m sure they’ve been looking into both offensive and defensive applications since then.
Now who came up with posting this and okayed it thinking it would be a good thing is a whole other issue.
My mistake it was Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan in 2021/2022 that was the drone thing.
The 2020 issue between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan was about a dam that busted and resulted in downstream damages and tension.