> they can cover an area with artillery, but for that you don’t need a drone
This is badly incorrect. You have fantastical ideas about how artillery works. Perhaps you've seen images of a few cratered wheat fields and figure that is Russian SOP and goes on 24x7. It doesn't. Those are major operations that require a lot of costly preparation and time. Russia can't afford to do it on a whim, firing whilly nilly at phantoms. No one can.
Fire must be directed. Otherwise you're just making noise.