In better times, Ukrainian drone enthusiasts flew their gadgets into the sky to photograph weddings, fertilize soybean fields or race other drones for fun. Now some are risking their lives by forming a volunteer drone force to help their country repel the Russian invasion.

xe2x80x9cKyiv needs you and your drone at this moment of fury!xe2x80x9d read a Facebook post late last week from the Ukrainian military, calling for citizens to donate hobby drones and to volunteer as experienced pilots to operate them.

One entrepreneur who runs a retail store selling consumer drones in the capital said its entire stock of some 300 drones made by Chinese company DJI has been dispersed for the cause. Others are working to get more drones across the border from friends and colleagues in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.

xe2x80x9cWhy are we doing this? We have no other choice. This is our land, our home,xe2x80x9d said Denys Sushko, head of operations at Kyiv-based industrial drone technology company DroneUA, which before the war was helping to provide drone services to farmers and energy companies.

Sushko fled his home late last week after his family had to take cover from a nearby explosion. He spoke to The Associated Press by phone and text message Friday after climbing up a tree for better reception.

xe2x80x9cWe try to use absolutely everything that can help protect our country and drones are a great tool for getting real-time data,xe2x80x9d said Sushko, who doesnxe2x80x99t have a drone with him but is providing expertise. xe2x80x9cNow in Ukraine no one remains indifferent. Everyone does what they can.xe2x80x9d

Unlike the much larger Turkish-built combat drones that Ukraine has in its arsenal, off-the-shelf consumer drones arenxe2x80x99t much use as weapons xe2x80x94 but they can be powerful reconnaissance tools. Civilians have been using the aerial cameras to track Russian convoys and then relay the images and GPS coordinates to Ukrainian troops. Some of the machines have night vision and heat sensors.

But therexe2x80x99s a downside: DJI, the leading provider of consumer drones in Ukraine and around the world, provides a tool that can easily pinpoint the location of an inexperienced drone operator, and no one really knows what the Chinese firm or its customers might do with that data. That makes some volunteers uneasy. DJI declined to discuss specifics about how it has responded to the war.

Taras Troiak, a dealer of DJI drones who started the Kyiv retail store, said DJI has been sending mixed signals about whether itxe2x80x99s providing preferential access to xe2x80x94 or disabling xe2x80x94 its drone detection platform AeroScope, which both sides of the conflict can potentially use to monitor the otherxe2x80x99s flight paths and the communication links between a drone and the device thatxe2x80x99s controlling it.

DJI spokesperson Adam Lisberg said wartime uses were xe2x80x9cnever anticipatedxe2x80x9d when the company created AeroScope to give policing and aviation authorities xe2x80x94 including clients in both Russia and Ukraine xe2x80x94 a window into detecting drones flying in their immediate airspace. He said some users in Ukraine have reported technical problems but DJI has not disabled the tool or given preferential access.

In the meantime, Ukrainian drone experts said theyxe2x80x99ve been doing whatever they can to teach operators how to protect their whereabouts.

xe2x80x9cThere are a number of tricks that allow you to increase the level of security when using them,xe2x80x9d Sushko said.

Sushko said many in the industry are now trying to get more small drones xe2x80x94 including DJI alternatives xe2x80x94 transported into Ukraine from neighboring European countries. They can also be used to assist search-and-rescue operations.

Ukraine has a thriving community of drone experts, some of whom were educated at the National Aviation University or the nearby Kyiv Polytechnic University and went on to found local drone and robotics startups.

xe2x80x9cTheyxe2x80x99ve got this homebuilt industry and all these smart people who build drones,xe2x80x9d said Faine Greenwood, a U.S.-based consultant on drones for civic uses such as disaster response.

Troiakxe2x80x99s DJI-branded store in Kyiv, which is now shuttered as city residents take shelter, was a hub for that community because it runs a maintenance center and hosts training sessions and a hobby club. Even the countryxe2x80x99s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, once paid a visit to the store to buy a drone for one of his children, Troiak said.

A public drone-focused Facebook group administered by Troiak counts more than 15,000 members who have been trading tips about how to assist Ukrainian troops. One drone photographer who belongs to the Ukrainian Association of Drone Racing team told The Associated Press he decided to donate his DJI Mavic drone to the military rather than try to fly it himself. He and others asked not to be named out of fear for their safety.

xe2x80x9cThe risk to civilian drone operators inside Ukraine is still great,xe2x80x9d said Australian drone security expert Mike Monnik. xe2x80x9cLocating the operatorxe2x80x99s location could result in directed missile fire, given what wexe2x80x99ve seen in the fighting so far. Itxe2x80x99s no longer rules of engagement as we have had in previous conflicts.xe2x80x9d In recent days, Russian-language channels on the messaging app Telegram have featured discussions on ways to find Ukrainian drones, Monnik said.

Some in Ukrainexe2x80x99s drone community already have experience deploying their expertise in conflict zones because of the countryxe2x80x99s long-running conflict with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Monnikxe2x80x99s firm, DroneSec, has tracked multiple instances just in the past year of both sides of that conflict arming small drones with explosives. One thing that Ukrainians said theyxe2x80x99ve learned is that small quadcopter drones, such as those sold at stores, are rarely effective at hitting a target with explosive payloads.

xe2x80x9cIt would seem somewhat short-sighted to waste one,xe2x80x9d said Greenwood, the consultant based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. xe2x80x9cI assume the chief goal would be recon. But if things are getting desperate, who knows.xe2x80x9d

DJI also has experience in responding to warfighters trying to weaponize its drones and used so-called xe2x80x9cgeofencingxe2x80x9d technology to block drone movements during conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Itxe2x80x99s not clear yet if it will do the same in Ukraine; even if it does, there are ways to work around it.

Small civilian drones are no match against Russian combat power but will likely become increasingly important in a protracted war, leaving drone-makers no option to be completely neutral. Any action they take or avoid is xe2x80x9cindirectly taking a side,xe2x80x9d said P.W. Singer, a New America fellow who wrote a book about war robots.

xe2x80x9cWe will see ad-hoc arming of these small civilian drones much the way wexe2x80x99ve seen that done in conflicts around the world from Syria to Iraq and Yemen and Afghanistan,xe2x80x9d Singer said. xe2x80x9cJust like an IED or a Molotov cocktail, they wonxe2x80x99t change the tide of battle but they will definitely make it difficult for Russian soldiers.xe2x80x9d

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AP video journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.