David Kirichenko Profile picture
Oct 3, 2025 30 tweets 7 min read Read on X
1/ Drone superpower Ukraine is teaching NATO how to defend against Russia.

At this week’s European Political Community Summit in Copenhagen, NATO leaders made clear that Ukraine is the world’s top expert in anti-drone warfare.

Kyiv is growing stronger technologically.

🧵 Image
2/ Danish PM Mette Frederiksen: “The only expert right now in the world when it comes to anti-drone capacities is Ukraine, because they are fighting the Russian drones almost every day.”

NATO’s Mark Rutte agreed: Ukraine is a “powerhouse” of military innovation.
3/ When Russia invaded in 2022, Ukraine couldn’t match Moscow’s manpower or firepower.

Instead, it turned to the courage of its own people and domestic tech.

Cheap, lethal drones became the equalizer—transforming the battlefield and creating the infamous “Drone Wall.”
4/ The Drone Wall changed everything.

Any Russian soldier or tank that breaks cover risks instant destruction.

This has stalled major offensives for years, preventing Russia from massing troops and armor.
5/ Ukraine also revolutionized naval warfare.

Naval drones smashed the Black Sea blockade, forced Russia’s fleet out of Crimea, and are now even shooting down helicopters.

NATO navies are taking note.
6/ Kyiv’s long-range drones have brought the war home to Russia.

- Oil refineries burning
- Logistics hubs hit
- Fuel shortages across Russia
- Rationing + record gas prices

7/ Ukraine's ex-commander Zaluzhnyi:

“Ukraine must compensate for its relative lack of resources by constantly introducing military innovations.”

The Russia-Ukraine war is now a relentless race to innovate sometimes new weapons face countermeasures within weeks.
8/ This intensity turbo-charged Ukraine’s domestic drone industry, putting it far ahead of Western counterparts.

To catch up, NATO must lean heavily on Ukraine’s lessons.

Training is already underway with Denmark, Poland, Britain, Romania, and others.
9/ Meanwhile, a Ukrainian delegation is reportedly in the United States this week to negotiate a landmark deal with the Trump administration that would see Kyiv sharing battle-tested drone technology with the US. wsj.com/world/europe/t…
10/ Ukraine’s war is the world’s first full-scale drone war.

Its experience makes it a key partner for NATO and an indispensable ally in the defense of Europe.
End of the 🧵

Source: atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainea…
Ukraine’s reach is expanding and becoming more effective
1000km+ is getting more frequent for Kyiv.
Ukrainian naval drones enforcing the kinetic sanctions
Putin needs to come to terms with a new reality.

Sochi came under a drone attack while Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was in the city on a visit, delivering a speech at the Valdai Forum.

newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/drones-at…
Ukraine's drone defense against helicopters
And the kill zone keeps expanding too.
Moscow’s fuel will be increasingly targeted.
Ukraine since 2023 has been preparing for the long-war, building long range drone bombers.
Ukraine’s drone wall forces Russian soldiers into deadly meatgrinder assaults.
No surprises there. Kyiv continues to advance technologically.
Happy birthday, Putin.

Ukraine launched a massive overnight drone attack on Russia, striking a refinery in the Siberian city of Tyumen—more than 2,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border—in one of the deepest strikes since the war began. tvpworld.com/89340707/russi…
Russia has imposed a 24-hour blackout on mobile data and texts for all foreign SIM cards entering its networks, Belarusian officials said.

The move follows Moscow’s plan to block drones and automated systems from using foreign mobile connections inside Russia. Image
Good progress on the target selection and impact.
On Oct. 20, Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) published a video of a drone strike on one of Russia's most advanced anti-UAV radar systems which guarded occupied Crimea. t.me/DIUkraine/7134

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More from @DVKirichenko

Mar 26
1/ Four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has become a “steel porcupine” — making it impossible for Russia to digest.

As warfare becomes cheaper and more technological, Ukraine's advantages will grow.

🧵 Image
2/ Many in the West thought Kyiv would fall in days or weeks in 2022.

That did not happen.

Ukraine survived by adapting fast and building a war effort around drones and other low-cost technologies.
3/ This war is not just about territory for Ukraine.

It is an existential fight for survival, which is why Kyiv keeps investing in its own defense industry instead of waiting for others to save it.

Read 15 tweets
Mar 24
1/ Ukraine’s drones have stolen the limelight, but its Delta battlefield system is the beating heart of its warfighting capabilities.

Western armies still have time to learn the lessons.

🧵 Image
2/ The British developed and improved the system while under fire as they fought a battle of survival against Nazi Germany.

Ukraine now does the same in its existential war against Putin’s Russia.
3/ The Ukrainian model is fully digitized and accommodates AI to speed conclusions and spread awareness.

Like its predecessors, Delta shows enemy and friendly forces in something close to real time.
Read 17 tweets
Feb 10
1/ Panic spread across Russian military channels in early February after Starlink imposed new restrictions on satellite communications.

Unregistered terminals in Ukraine were disconnected following mandatory verification announced by Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

🧵 Image
2/ Russian soldiers quickly took to social media to complain.

One was filmed kicking his Starlink terminal. Another used it as a dining table.

“In a single night we completely descended into the Stone Age,” one soldier said.
3/ Within days, Ukrainian electronic warfare expert Serhii Beskrestnov reported Russian assaults stalling across multiple sectors.

“The enemy has a catastrophe,” he said.

Cloudflare data showed a clear drop in Starlink activity.
Read 26 tweets
Jan 26
1/ The scramble for battlefield drone experience has become a global phenomenon.

Ukraine is now the world’s classroom for modern war.

🧵 Image
2/ While embedded with Colombian soldiers on Ukraine’s front lines, several told me they had fought cartels and insurgents before.

They had not seen warfare under drone dominated skies before.

That experience is now very valuable around the world. cepa.org/article/libert…
3/ Ukraine is where the learning is happening.

Ukrainian drones have struck targets more than 1,200 miles away, including a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker and even a submarine parked in a Russian port.

Kyiv regularly bombs targets across Russia.

Read 25 tweets
Dec 29, 2025
1/ Cheap unmanned systems have reshaped modern warfare.

Ukraine has built a drone wall on land, forced Russia’s Black Sea Fleet into retreat at sea, and struck deep inside Russia.

Now those battlefield lessons matter far beyond Ukraine — including in the Arctic.

🧵 Image
2/ As Moscow accelerates its race for Arctic resources and intensifies pressure on NATO airspace, the High North is becoming a frontline.

As Mike Pompeo warned in 2019, the Arctic is now an arena of global power competition — and Washington wants to regain dominance.
3/ Russia’s Arctic strategy is driven by insecurity: fear of losing military dominance as ice melts and NATO expands, and fear of economic isolation as sanctions choke access to Western tech.

Finland and Sweden joining NATO only sharpened those anxieties. Image
Read 19 tweets
Dec 23, 2025
1/ Ukraine says it has disabled a Russian submarine using an underwater drone—marking what Kyiv describes as the first successful combat strike of its kind.

It took a multi-step phase to execute.

🧵

2/ According to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the attack damaged a Russian Kilo-class submarine in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, a key launch platform for Kalibr cruise missiles.
3/ The strike reportedly used an underwater drone system known as Sub Sea Baby. Ukrainian officials claimed the submarine was effectively put out of action.

Russia denies that the submarine suffered extensive damage. Image
Read 9 tweets

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