May 29, 2026
At NATO’s Aurora 2026 military exercises in Sweden, a group of Ukrainian drone pilots was tasked with playing the role of attackers. Ukrainian teams repeatedly disrupted NATO maneuvers, forcing parts of the exercise to be restarted. The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell spoke with drone pilots from Ukraine’s 20th National Guard “Lubart” Brigade, part of the 1st Azov Corps, shortly after they returned from Sweden. Drawing on years of battlefield experience fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion, the pilots explain how they exposed weaknesses in NATO’s approach to drone warfare, what Western militaries are still struggling to adapt to, and how Ukraine can make the alliance stronger.
The AFU handed NATO’s ass to it, yet Ukraine still isn’t allowed to enter the organization.
When you get a country that needs to use Patriots to down Iranian drones, you know something is very wrong with the NATO approach. Probably down to Western arrogance, thinking Ukraine can’t teach us anything.
It’s all so surreal!