Insights from visiting the country with the most powerful drone army in the world.
By MAX BOOT
Washington Post
March 30, 2026
KYIV — When I first visited Kyiv in May 2023, Ukraine’s capital experienced what was then one of the largest air attacks of the war: Russia fired 25 missiles and nine drones. I could hear the blasts outside my hotel room as Ukrainian air defenses shot down all the projectiles. Last week, during my third visit to wartime Ukraine, Russia set another shameful record by firing 30 missiles and nearly 1,000 Shahed drones during a 24-hour period (March 23-24).
The radical expansion in the size of air attacks over the past three years is a sign that Russia’s war of aggression shows no sign of abating. But Ukraine, while far smaller than Russia, has kept pace with the aggressor. Although a drone damaged a historic church in the city of Lviv, Ukrainian air defenses last week shot down 95 percent of the Shaheds, in part by using low-cost interceptor drones produced by no other nation.
While Russia was targeting Ukrainian homes, hospitals and churches, Ukraine was dispatching long-range drones to hit Russia’s oil export terminals on the Baltic Sea, more than 600 miles away. These audacious attacks cut Russia’s oil exports by 40 percent, and therefore decreased the oil revenue available to fund Vladimir Putin’s war machine. That may partially offset the windfall Russia will reap from the Iran war, which has led to rising oil prices and a relaxation of U.S. sanctions.
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