Former CIA director insists Kyiv could ‘stop the Russians cold’ with explosive underwater drones
Liz Perkins in New York.
30th September 2025
Explosive underwater drones can help win the war for Ukraine and stop Vladimir Putin in his tracks, one of America’s most-decorated generals has said.
David Petraeus, the retired four-star general who led US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, said robotic submarines and other drones were a vital component in Ukraine’s war machine.
“This is the moment where Ukraine can stop the Russians cold on the battlefields if they are able to make even more unmanned systems,” General Petraeus told The Telegraph in New York.
He said arming Ukraine with powerful drones was part of a three-point plan that could deliver victory.
Ukraine recently unveiled its new Toloka TLK-1000 drone that it claims can destroy targets 2,000km (1,200 miles) away, potentially bringing the Kerch Bridge in Crimea into range.
Gen Petraeus, the former CIA director, said the continued development of deadly sea drones and cruise missiles – like the Flamingo – that can strike deep within Russia was key to achieving a Ukrainian victory. But Kyiv needed continued military assistance from the West to do so, he said.
“I drove an unmanned maritime system the other day in an undisclosed location in Ukraine and it hit 100km an hour, it’s amazing. Alongside aerial drones, Ukraine now has the Flamingo ground-launch cruise missile that travels 3,000km.”
Gen Petraeus said money sent from the West to Kyiv to build up its drone army could help Ukraine win the war.
He said it was vital that the £200bn of frozen Russian assets the European Union has acquired was invested in Ukraine in order to develop more drones and win on the battlefield.
His second and third priorities to win the war are security guarantees and a tightening of sanctions on Russia by the EU and Donald Trump.
Gen Petraeus, one of the West’s most experienced generals, insisted all three points must be implemented together to force Putin’s hand.
“If those three sets of actions are taken simultaneously, I think you could finally get a situation where Russia would just be forced to halt the fighting because they can’t achieve additional gains [on the battlefield],” he said from the sidelines of the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit in New York.
“Or there could be a ceasefire agreement, if that is possible.”
His warning comes after several weeks of Russian provocations against Nato, with its drones probing Polish and Romanian air defences and its jets entering Estonian airspace, while the country pummels Ukraine with the largest barrages of the war so far.
On the battlefield, strike drones have transformed warfare and are largely responsible for Kyiv holding its far larger adversary at a near-stalemate, inflicting the majority of Russian losses.
Ukraine has also been striking deeper into Russia, wreaking havoc on its oil and gas production facilities, sending prices skyrocketing, cutting exports and weakening Moscow’s ability to finance the war.
In the past five weeks, fuel shortages have swept from Russia’s far east to Moscow as a result of one of Ukraine’s most successful campaigns of the war – long-range drone strikes targeting oil refineries.
The attacks have reduced Russian oil refining by almost a fifth on certain days and cut exports from key ports, pushing Moscow closer to reducing oil production.
Kyiv is also leading the world in terms of naval drone technology that allowed it, with no navy of its own, to gain the upper hand in the battle for the Black Sea, sending Russia’s fleet fleeing and ending a naval blockade of Ukraine’s ports.
Its rapidly advancing unmanned surface vehicles have destroyed warships and fired missiles that downed Russian fighter jets and helicopters. Last week, naval drones helped attack Russia’s Black Sea fleet in its new base in the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
Gen Petraeus said unlocking the £200bn of Russian money held in Europe would allow Ukraine to expand its now huge domestic drone industry, which it lacks the financial resources to scale up production further.
Kyiv has set a target of building 4.5 million drones this year, double last year’s output.
While the UK and French-led coalition of the willing has pledged boots on the ground in the event of a ceasefire, Mr Trump has wavered over what security guarantees he is willing to provide. Volodymyr Zelensky, however, has been clear that without US guarantees, he will not agree to a peace deal.
However, in a sign of relief for Kyiv, Mr Trump has shown increasing impatience with Russia, while softening his stance on Ukraine.
At the UN summit last week, Mr Trump dismissed Russia as a “paper tiger” in economic peril and said it risked losing all its occupied land to Ukraine.
Mr Trump told world leaders: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
But Gen Petraeus said Putin was not serious about discussing a ceasefire and could not be trusted.
He said the West had a lot to learn from Ukraine, not least Kyiv’s ability to transform its drone warfare capabilities.
“The future of war is in Ukraine,” Gen Petraeus said.
The West needs to transform its militaries into a series of unmanned systems in every domain of warfare – whether that be underwater killer submarines, drones and cruise missiles, he added. “The Ukrainians have done this spectacularly well,” Gen Petraeus said.
Comment from :
Hilary Deighton
Good to see an American talking cold hard sense. Ukraine’s expertise and innovation are going to be such assets to the free world when Russia has been sent back within its own borders.
Adam Turner
Reply to Hilary Deighton – view message
It’s not going to happen any time soon, and would cost about 100,000 more lives if it did. As you’re probably aware.
Hilary Deighton
Reply to Adam Turner
Russian lives, old son. I take no joy in them, but that’s what you get for trying to steal someone else’s country, so not much sympathy either.
Martin Whapshott
Ukraine should be facilitated to conduct asymmetric warfare with its underwater drones in the Pacific and Artic against Russian subs and ships. This would tie up Russian forces which combined with secondary sanctions and the mass production of low unit cost long range drones would further degrade Russian forces through prolonged attrition. The West ought to develop the courage to help.
derek coster
Submarines are an irrelevencey in this war. What is he on about?
Erik Evans
Reply to derek coster – view message
He’s not referring to them in the context of offshore naval battles. He saying that submersibles can be deployed in rivers and streams to take out the bridge and rail systems that form the backbone of Russian logistics.
The Russian Federation have moved depots and provisioning deeper into their territory, but the men and materiel still have to get to the front line, usually by rail and freight.
I still think that is too optimistic of a prescription. The RF are going to have to be defeated on the battlefield. Practical concerns like logistics have not particularly bothered Russians during this invasion.
Mike Dennis
Putrid’s slaughter of Ukrainian civilians , including children , continues !!
The West need to figure out what would make Putrid ” leave ” ( and pay towards the damage inside Ukraine ) probably a bit more than robot subs ?
Theres no point attempting any kind of “negotiation ” with someone who just lies anyway and treats everyone like sh@t , including Russians .
What would ACTUALLY make him alter the current ” genocide ” ? – do we have anyone who can outmanouvre the Kremlin Fascist ?? We are all paying billions without an end sight ??? But its Ukranian civilians who are dying every day .
Peter UK
Ukraine could start by sinking Greek oil tankers transporting Russian oil into Europe via India.
The same for Russian LNG supplied direct.
Cut off Russia’s source of € billions in energy revenues from EU countries which is funding Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Europeans are trading Ukrainian blood for Russian oil and LNG.
Sage and Onion
Surely the biggest gains could be had if the Ukrainians attack Russia’s fleet of shadow oil tankers, though that would be an environmental apocalypse.
Vicki Lester
Reply to Sage and Onion
Attack the terminals, that defeats multiple tankers and there isn’t even the environmental damage of striking empty tankers.
Norman Peasant
Ukraine’s strategy is quite clearly to break Russia’s energy and transport industries, crippling the economy and Putin’s ability to continue the war. It’s clearly hurting Russia greatly already. Having pioneered the mass use of drones as tactical weapons to nullify Russia’s advantages on the battlefield, it’s now pioneering their use as strategic weapons to defeat Russia from within. Russia’s massive geography is rendered a strategic weakness as it cannot defend such vast distances.
Why mess with submarines? They are irrelevant for this war, unless it’s the ones that are (were?) launching missiles at Ukrainian cities.