As Ukraine's drone strike force, backed by Western assistance, escalates its deep strikes into Russian territory, its rapid growth into the world's leading unmanned systems power reveals a broader European commitment to militarization. This industrialization of conflict, celebrated as a fight for 'democracy,' mirrors the escalating investment in border technologies that define Fortress Europe.
Lt Col Ray, a Ukrainian commander with the 414th aviation brigade, described the drone war as a fight in the sky, reaching Russian-occupied Crimea and, in 2026, Moscow and St Petersburg. He watched a drone launch from a field of tall yellow sunflowers, stating, "We are making history here. This is where democracy beats totalitarianism. It’s like George Orwell. But this time Big Brother loses."
The launch occurred as sparrows cheeped at sunset. Ray, whose unit is an elite long-and-medium-range strike drone unit, took cover in a leafy ditch as a moped-like growl broke the evening calm. A Ukrainian drone jerked upwards at a 45-degree angle, orange flames fizzing, before motoring onwards, leaving black smoke and a whiff of gunpowder. Its destination was Crimea, a scenic Ukrainian peninsula of beaches and white chalk mountains, which Russia stole in 2014, the twelfth year since its annexation, and militarised thereafter.
Two more long-range drones followed, each carrying 50-100kg of explosives. They flew into the twilight above a darkening steppe landscape. Soldiers packed briskly, wound up white cables, and left within 10 minutes. Far from the frontline, other crews crisscrossed Ukraine, releasing drones according to a precise evening schedule. Operators sat before computer screens, nudging them towards enemy targets. The drone model can fly more than 2,500km, capable of pummeling anywhere in European Russia and much of Siberia.
After four hours, around 1am, the first drone reached the holiday resort of Alushta on occupied Crimea's southern coast. It weaved between grey apartment blocks and crashed into a 110kV electricity substation, where flames erupted, lighting up the city’s inky blackness. These strikes, carried out 11 days ago on 21 July, were part of Ukraine's "Crimean 'switch off'" campaign, aiming to disconnect the region from its power and logistics networks. That same night, unmanned drones hit 13 electricity nodes, several in Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, which the Kremlin says it has annexed.
Since 2022, the fourth year of conflict, Russia has conducted nightly attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, deploying Iranian-designed shaheeds, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles. After Donald Trump returned to the White House one year ago, these swarms grew, raining down chaotically and killing families in their apartments and other civilians in a calculated campaign of terror. Ukraine, once a recipient of Western assistance, has responded by developing its own military manufacturing base. After rapid growth, it has become the world’s leading unmanned systems power. The drones hurled last week at Crimea were built in Kyiv by a defence technology startup, whose representatives participate in operations.
The Industrialization of 'Freedom'
Ray’s battalion, named after Kairos, the ancient Greek god of opportunity, has carried out hundreds of deep strikes against Russia. Its targets have included oil refineries, warehouses, munitions depots, ports, harbours, and army logistics routes like roads and railways. In 2026, Ukrainian drones have struck Moscow and Putin’s home city of St Petersburg, embarrassing Russia’s president and bringing the war home to ordinary citizens who had previously ignored it. Ray stated, “I think Putin is afraid. One of the justifications he gave for his war was to stop Ukraine from [potentially] bombing Moscow. It’s happening now as a direct consequence of his actions.”
Ray expressed feeling “revenge and justice” every time one of his drones ascended into the moonlit heavens bound for enemy territory. He asserted, “We didn’t start this war. We have no choice. We are fighting for our independence, for our people, for the memory of those who have died, and for our future. This is a contest between slaves and free people.”
Secrecy surrounds Ukraine’s drone operation. An analytics department finds targets. Western partners provide some intelligence, but most of it is open source. Drone crews receive coordinates at the last minute. So far, none of those involved in launches have been injured or killed, despite Moscow’s attempts to identify and blow up lift-off points. One person involved remarked, “You are making change on a global scale. Trump wakes up and sees the results. At the same time it’s very solitary. You can’t tell anybody about what you do, even your wife, or boast: ‘Today we bombed Moscow.’ Only your commander understands.” They added, “It’s an important job. You feel the biggest satisfaction and a member of an elite.”
Kairos is part of “Magyar’s Birds,” a brigade named after its founder, Robert Brovdi, head of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces. This month, Brovdi launched a campaign to destroy oil tankers and other vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea. Over 200 have been hit. The Russians were taken unawares, their boats unable to escape. Since last week, the brigade has been burning warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, obliterating at least nine. Ukraine claims the company sells military products. These strikes have crippled small businesses and caused billions of roubles in damage. Brovdi commented, “The socio-psychological impact on society is greater than that of an oil refinery.”
Deterrence and Dispossession
Brovdi stated that Ukrainian long-range drones had “significantly thinned out” Russia’s air defences. “We have already destroyed the majority of them,” he said. “With every air defence unit destroyed, the breach expands.” Three days earlier, air defence units were flattened in the Russian port of Yeysk on the Azov Sea, bringing the number of systems knocked out to 305. He noted that Russia’s enormous size, once a strategic strength, has become a weakness, and that a panicked Kremlin has moved “a certain number” of air defences from the frontline to protect Moscow. Brovdi articulated his desire to stop Russia from using Crimea as a “springboard” to fire on Ukraine and to push out the nearly 1 million Russian residents or “colonisers” who settled on the peninsula after Putin’s 2014 takeover.
Crimea now faces such severe fuel shortages that Russian military groups are sometimes unable to fill up and launch drones. Frequent power cuts also plague the region. One brigade member, call sign Schweik, predicted imminent food shortages. “The operation is endless. There will be a cascade effect. We will continue this pressure. They will be thinking about survival instead of assault operations,” he said. Schweik added, “The situation is humiliating for Russia. Crimea is symbolic. It was Putin’s first trophy and the place where the world order was broken. He created a kind of euphoria in Russia society, which in turn gave him permission to go and take more [Ukrainian] territory. Now everyone in the world understands that Russia is really weak.”
Not all Ukrainian drones reach their targets. According to Ray, about a third are brought down over occupied territory. He noted that losses in the skies above Russia were considerably higher. Even so, Ukraine’s strategy of piling pressure on the Russian economy appears to be working. Brovdi explained, “Troops and resources must be exhausted, so that it becomes impossible for them to continue the war.”
Brovdi acknowledged that Russian troops were still advancing in the eastern Donbas region, with battles in the city of Kostiantynivka. “Their gains to date do not justify the price they’re paying for them,” he said. He questioned, “At this rate, with their intention to seize half of Ukraine, are they planning to fight for 100 years?”
Back in the countryside, Ray’s colleague Panama described the latest launch as a success. “It was 10 out of 10. With us it’s always like this,” he said, adding that he had been working with the current biplane-like model for a year and a half. “To begin with we used foreign drones. Sometimes things went wrong. Now we don’t have problems,” he said. The only challenge, he said, came from mosquitoes that fill the air during summer evenings. “Over time we’ve become friends with them. They don’t annoy me any more. They are also inhabitants of free Ukraine. They can do whatever they want,” Panama said. “But if they irritate us we will launch them at the enemy. They can eat Russians.”