Russia’s drone warfare : the technologies it uses and how Ukraine and the world respond

Olha Konsevych

Technologies that Russia is using in its war against Ukraine are not remaining local. In particular, Iran is deploying drones – including FPV drones – to strike military targets, including U.S. air bases in the Middle East.

During the attack on the Kyiv region on March 16, Russia used new types of unmanned aerial vehicles. These involve a technology that allows drones to exchange data with each other without direct communication with an operator. In such a system, UAVs can coordinate actions, transmit signals, and partially compensate for the loss of control.

UKRAINE: “I put my life on hold”- the story of a woman from Berdiansk who fled the occupation

April 11, 2026

Are We Facing the Sixth Mass Extinction? How Climate Change Is Driving Species to the Brink

April 9, 2026

The Carbon Footprints of War

April 9, 2026

Russia is modernizing UAVs

Lancet drones have a maximum speed of up to 110 km/h during horizontal flight and up to 300 km/h when attacking a target. According to Yurii Ihnat, Head of Communications of the Ukrainian Air Force, the attack was unusual. The drones also showed signs of using autonomous artificial intelligence.

“At least some of these drones were equipped with mesh networks and other control systems, which allowed the enemy to control them during flight,” he said. Experts say Russia produces up to 12,000 Shahed drones per month. Over four years of full-scale aggression, these UAVs have undergone numerous modifications – from improved navigation systems to new methods of bypassing air defense.

Moreover, Russia has helped Iran improve its strike drones, and now Israel, Gulf countries, as well as U.S. forces in the Middle East are facing a threat that Ukraine encountered several years ago. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. “We have had a terrible experience with these drones… Ukraine has become a kind of testing ground for them. You can’t even compare the first versions of the Shaheds used at the beginning of the war with the Shaheds we see today,” he said.

According to Zelensky, at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, when evidence emerged that Iran was supplying drones, Kyiv contacted Tehran and urged it not to provide UAVs so as not to become complicit in the killing of civilians. Russia is preparing for a large-scale expansion of drone production – and these plans are already forcing Europe to rethink its security strategy.

According to European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius, Moscow may deploy between seven and nine million drones in 2026. This effectively shifts the war into a new phase – where not only weaponry, but also scale and production speed become decisive. “We must remember that Russia spends about 85% of the entire European Union’s defense budget, in purchasing power parity terms, on its military,” Kubilius said at the Europa forum.

According to him, Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has already changed the very understanding of the modern battlefield: drones have become a key tool shaping tactics, tempo, and even the logic of warfare.

Europe responds

In Brussels, there is growing recognition that this experience cannot be ignored. On the contrary – it must be integrated. Kubilius is directly calling on the EU to use Ukraine’s experience as the basis for a new defense model. This is not only about technology, but also about the speed of adaptation and production solutions that Ukraine has developed under wartime conditions. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas confirmed that Ukraine remains central to European security – and that attention will not fade.

“The same drones that attack Kyiv are also striking countries in the Gulf,” she said after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. In this context, Ukraine has a unique role: on the one hand, it is the main target of attacks; on the other, it is a country developing some of the most effective counter-drone solutions. That is why the EU is already discussing how to combine these two dimensions: Ukraine’s need for protection and the interest of other regions in Ukrainian technologies.

Kallas also pointed to the broader context: Russia is not only waging war against Ukraine, but is also expanding its impact on neighboring countries.

Ukraine scales its experience

Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Kyiv is interested in signing a large-scale agreement with the United States on drone production. The deal is expected to be worth between $35 and $50 billion and is envisioned as a long-term partnership. At the same time, Ukraine is entering the European market. By 2026, up to ten export centers for Ukrainian drones are planned to be opened in the Baltic and Nordic countries. The first production lines are already being launched in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Another direction is practical support for countries already facing similar threats. Ukraine has sent three teams of experts to the Middle East – to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia – to assist in countering Iranian drones. At the same time, Ukraine is accelerating the systemic integration of artificial intelligence into the military sphere. Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov announced the launch of the Defense AI Center “A1” – the first center within a network of military technology competence hubs under the Ministry of Defense.

“To be faster than the enemy on the battlefield, we are creating a system of centers of excellence in military technologies under the Ministry of Defense,” he said. According to Fedorov, separate centers will soon be established across key areas of modern warfare, including drones, Middle Strike, Deep Strike, and artillery. The Defense AI Center “A1” will be the first such project, implemented with the support of the UK government.

The center will focus on analyzing battlefield data, forecasting enemy actions, developing autonomous systems, and creating new command and control tools. Its goal is to rapidly transform frontline experience into technological solutions. “In a technological war, the one who moves faster through the innovation cycle wins,” Fedorov emphasized.

He also stressed that AI solutions are becoming part of every domain of modern warfare – from intelligence to command and control: “Our goal is to build the most effective defense system in Europe. This is a new-generation AI-driven army based on the speed of innovation, autonomous systems, and network superiority.”

Olha Konsevych: Journalist, researcher; Vital Voices; GMF; WZB Berlin ; Max Planck Society alumna ;Mahabahu Correspondent

Mahabahu Climate Forum

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking. You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com (For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary) Images from different sources.