How AI drones are changing the war in Ukraine
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This episode of The General and the Journalist is brought to you by Team Orion. At a time where the world is increasingly uncertain, defence needs more than traditional logistics to face those challenges. It takes trusted data, rapid decision-making and operational resilience. That's where Team Orion comes in, strengthening defence readiness through integration. Combining the sovereign expertise of KBR, Unipart and IBM, Team Orion delivers the decision-making power and support systems to sustain forces when the stakes are high. Discover how Team Orion is helping shape the future of defence readiness. Follow them on LinkedIn at Team Orion Defence. For much of the last four years, the war in Ukraine has been a stalemate.
Russia grinding on, Ukraine just about holding on. A brutal war of attrition. But in the last few months, something has changed. Ukraine's use of drones has leapt forward, both in scale and sophistication, so much so that it's beginning to reshape the battlefield itself. And for the first time since 2023, Russia looks to be in trouble. What does it mean for this war? And what does it mean for warfare itself, with drones soon able to target and kill all by themselves? I'm Tom. And I'm
Patrick. Welcome to The Journal and The Journalist.
And we're joined today by Dr. Jack Watling from RUSI, the Royal United Services Institute. Jack is author of two books, and I'm going to hold them up for viewers, Statecraft and The Arms of the Future. Jack is one of the most respected analysts of land warfare I know. He's spent much of his time visiting the front line of Ukraine over the last four years and has been described by Anne Applebaum as Clausewitz for the modern world. Welcome to the podcast, Jack. How's it feel to be the new Clausewitz? Almost as daunting
as when you described me as a national treasure when you were CGS, which is slightly unnerving.
Well, Jack, I think there was a reason for that because it's come to my attention that when Patrick was Chief of the General Staff not very long ago, Patrick, you actually called Jack in to your office at the start of the Ukraine war for
his personal advice. Yeah, there's a bit of a continuity in the podcast episodes because, of course, last week we had Ed Cartwright on, who was my MA, who knew Jack very well. And so in one of the first sessions I had sitting down with Ed trying to work out you know, how we could respond as an army to what was playing out in front of us in Ukraine. We both thought that, you know, we couldn't ask for anyone better to come in than Jack. So let's start by setting the scene. Last year in the White House, memorably, President Trump sort of shouted at President Zelensky, you don't have the cards. Well, 15 months later, that line doesn't look like it's aging well. Russia, of course, has got four and a half times the population.
It's 28 times the size of Ukraine. And it's got an economy 12 times bigger. But as this war is about to overtake the First World War in duration, Russia's rate of advance has plummeted to a new standstill. They've had, what, 325,000 soldiers dead. around about 1.3 million casualties in total, an economy that's been described as being in the death zone and, of course, decreasing popular support for the war, as we've heard in previous episodes. So last autumn, it looked to a lot of commentators and people like you, Jack, that Ukraine was kind of condemned to a slow-grinding defeat. It was difficult to be optimistic. But something's changed, as Tom was saying. It now feels as if Ukraine's rested the initiative, that the momentum shifted.
You know as well as I do that a military doctrine when one side stops winning, the other one stops losing and the balance tilts, sometimes decisively. Have we hit that moment in this campaign?
I think we have.
How has Ukraine’s use of drones evolved from improvised tools to a strategic advantage?
And the challenge that analysts like me have had for some time is that Russia has had so much latent capacity or potential. that if you said they were done, they had catastrophically thrown away their best cards, there was the risk that they would pick themselves up and turn it around.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:13
2
How has Ukraine’s use of drones evolved from improvised tools to a strategic advantage?
4:13–15:15
3
What tactical changes allowed Ukrainian forces to integrate drones with infantry and artillery?
15:15–35:05
4
How are mid‑range and deep‑strike drones extending Ukraine’s strike depth to 50‑100 km?
35:05–38:11