🧵1/ Ukraine’s expanding robot army can help address manpower shortages

Ukraine says it carried out a local offensive in early July using only robotic systems to seize a front line position in Kharkiv region. 2/ Another frontline unit has unveiled a remote controlled platform mounting a Soviet era anti aircraft launcher.

The goal is to threaten low flying aircraft and helicopters while keeping crews out of drone view and artillery range.

🧵 1/ Ukraine’s new drone chief, Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, has a bold goal: use drones to kill or wound 35,000 Russian soldiers every month -- matching the total number deployed in Ukraine.

This means rapidly expanding the killzone and strengthening Ukraine's drone wall. 2/ Brovdi, 49, is no typical general.

Once a grain trader and businessman, he’s become one of Ukraine’s most effective and unconventional commanders -- and one of the most feared by russia.

His unit, Birds of Magyar, is now legendary in Ukraine’s drone war.

🧵1/ My frontline report inside Ukraine's drone wall protecting Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Mad-max style caged vehicles fill the roads near the front.

The russian motorcycle suicide assaults are relentless.

Ukrainian drone pilots have no breaks hunting russian soldiers. 2/ The early morning begins with the crashing of artillery and the whistle of russian glide bombs raining down on Ukrainian positions in Donetsk Oblast, near the border with Dnipropetrovsk.

The russians storm throughout the day, attemping to push beyond Donetsk Oblast.

🧵1/ Combat medicine is being rewritten in Ukraine.

russia’s full-scale war isn’t just transforming the battlefield -- it’s forcing medics to adapt to drone warfare, mass trauma, and extensive evacuation delays of the wounded.

Here’s what NATO should be learning. 2/ Shrapnel, not bullets.

@rima_medUA: Blasts from drone-dropped munitions now cause the majority of injuries, not close-quarters fire.

“Medics out here are forced to learn on the fly because we have no other choice."

🧵1/ russia is launching thousands of drones at Ukraine each week.

Kyiv is responding not with more air defense missiles, but with drone vs. drone defense.

Here’s why Ukraine is racing to scale cheap interceptor drones 2/ russia has shifted tactics in recent months.

With his ground offensive stalled, he’s turning to mass drone attacks to break Ukrainian and Western morale.

One week in July alone: 1,800+ Russian drones were launched, including strikes on cities far from the front.

🧵1/ The Russo-Ukrainian war is a now tech race and AI drones are increasingly a part of that tech arms race.

However, AI drones are challenging to develop and for now, a hybrid approach is proving to be most successful. 2/ On June 1, Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb, using FPV drones to strike russian strategic bombers.

The drones hit Engels airbase, causing up to $7B in damage and reportedly neutralizing 34% of russia’s bomber fleet.

🧵1/ russia is flooding Ukraine with Shahed drones - cheap, fast, and increasingly advanced.

But Ukraine is striking back with its own low-cost interceptors, some built for as little as $500.

Kyiv is showing us the future of air defense. 2/ Ukraine is under constant attack.

russia launches hundreds of drones at once, overwhelming traditional air defenses already strained by paused US support.

In this chaos, volunteer-built interceptor drones have become an important stopgap.

Garage led innovation.

🧵1/ Ukraine has hit the Kerch Bridge three times.

Now it may be preparing for a final, decisive strike - one that could sever russia’s physical connection to Crimea.

The bridge is both a symbol and a logistical route for the russian military. 2/ On June 1, Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb, smuggling drones into Russia that damaged $7B worth of strategic bombers.

Days later, it hit the Kerch Bridge again - this time with underwater explosives equivalent to a metric ton of TNT.

🧵1/ Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine is pushing the fight far beyond Europe.

From Africa to the Middle East, Kyiv is challenging Moscow’s influence through covert operations, diplomacy and soft power. 2/ In April 2025, President Zelenskyy made a historic visit to South Africa, part of a broader diplomatic push to build new partnerships in Africa.

Since 2022, Ukraine has opened 8 new embassies on the continent.

🧵 1/ Russia is flooding Ukraine with Shahed drones - sometime hundreds of them daily.

Ukrainian air defense have been overwhelmed.

But a new homegrown solution is gaining ground: interceptor drones.

Here's how Ukraine is adapting. 2/ Ukraine has begun deploying modified FPV (first-person view) drones to shoot down Russian reconnaissance UAVs like Orlan and Zala.

And now even Shahed loitering munitions.

These FPV interceptors are fast, cheap, and increasingly effective.

🧵1/ russia's summer offensive is underway.

Putin is more confident than ever that russia can outlast Ukraine and the West.

As 700,000 russian troops push across multiple fronts, and with Trump always "two weeks" away from a decision, Putin thinks he can win. 2/ In late June, Putin repeated his old claim: "Russians and Ukrainians are one people… All of Ukraine is ours."

His strategy?

Continue to expand the war, overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses, and bet that the West gives up first.

🧵1/ Ukraine isn’t just fighting Russian troops - it’s battling remnants of its Soviet military past.

A new generation of generals is clashing with old thinking that threatens battlefield effectiveness.

Here's why that matters now more than ever: 2/ Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi is at the center of this shift.

After a deadly Russian strike killed over 70 trainees on June 1, Drapatyi resigned in protest, saying an army “where no one is responsible for a defeat is dying from within.”

🧵1/ Why Ukraine’s AI drones aren’t a breakthrough — yet.

Despite early excitement, autonomous targeting drones haven’t changed the battlefield.

But development continues, and the long-term potential remains significant. 2/ AI-enabled drones promise a lot:

No jamming

No need for constant operator control

Potential for swarm attacks

But as of mid-2025, the reality has lagged behind.

🧵1/ While governments debated, a team of 150 engineers and volunteers quietly helped Ukraine outpace Russia’s battlefield tech — delivering life-saving tools in weeks, not years.

Meet Defense Tech for Ukraine (DTU) — a grassroots defense innovation group.👇 2/ DTU isn't a traditional defense contractor.

It's a distributed network of engineers, veterans, and frontline soldiers who collaborate remotely to solve real battlefield problems — quickly.

🧵1/ Belarusian soldiers fighting for Ukraine are risking their lives — and being left in limbo.

They’ve taken up arms to defeat Russian imperialism and hope it will help free Belarus from dictatorship.

But Kyiv is failing them by not giving them citizenship. 2/ Pavel Shurmei, an Olympic rower and commander of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, flew in from the U.S. after the full-scale invasion.

“When my wife in Mykolaiv texted that they were bombing the city, I packed up and left,” he said.

🧵1/ The CIA helped rebuild Ukraine’s shattered spy services after 2014.

What they created is now one of the most feared covert forces on Earth — a modern-day Mossad that hunts Russian war criminals across 3 continents.

Now, the U.S. can’t stop what it started👇 2/ After 2014, Ukraine’s spy agencies were riddled with Russian moles and dysfunction.

The CIA stepped in.

They trained a new generation, poured millions into covert capabilities, and helped rebuild Ukraine's defense intellgience (HUR).

🧵1/ The Axis of Evil is deepening their technical cooperation.

Western lawmakers need to be more concerned.

Chinese & Iranian engineers are now working side-by-side with Russians to refine drone technologies, which could soon threaten the West. 2/ President Zelenskyy confirmed China has cut drone sales to Ukraine while still supplying Russia.

“There are Chinese representatives on production lines inside Russia,” he said.

🧵1/ Ukraine launched one of the boldest drone operations in modern history: a coordinated strike on four Russian airbases using smuggled drones hidden in cargo containers.

Putin is silent. Commentators are in shock.

Russian intel is wondering what's coming next. 2/ Codenamed Operation Spider’s Web, the plan involved moving modified shipping containers and over 100 FPV drones into Russia.

The drones were stored in trucks and remotely activated to strike strategic bombers at multiple airfields.

🧵1/ Kyiv bombed the Kerch Bridge for a third time using underwater explosives.

Expect future attacks combining underwater drones, sea drones, and missiles.

Ukraine is transforming warfare faster than anyone can keep up with. 2/ Ukraine’s navy was nearly nonexistent in 2022. Today, it has built a fleet of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) that have forced Russia’s Black Sea fleet to retreat.

Sea drones have become the centerpiece of Ukraine’s naval strategy.

🧵1/ On June 1, Ukraine pulled off one of the most devastating drone strikes in modern military history. Kyiv destroyed $7B worth of Russian aircraft in a single day.

Behind it is a story of homegrown tech innovation and battlefield adaptation (+ the genius of UA intel). 2/ The attack, dubbed Operation Spiderweb, used AI-trained drones launched from smuggled trucks to hit four Russian airbases.

41 aircraft — including strategic bombers — were damaged or destroyed. It's the biggest one-day loss for Russia’s air force since WWII.

🧵1/ Ukraine Cites Mossad as Assassinations Multiply

Kyiv’s patiently constructed intelligence services and their assassins have more targets in their sights.

It's a clear message to russian war criminals. 2/ In late April, Ukrainian MP and ex-special forces commander Col. Roman Kostenko publicly stated:

Ukraine would follow Mossad’s example in hunting down those responsible for wartime atrocities for the next 10 to 30 years.