Ukraine’s Top Drone Commander on What the Pentagon Keeps Missing

Yuri Fedorenko has spent four years turning a volunteer rifle company into the 429th “Achilles” Brigade, one of the most lethal units in Ukraine’s Defense Forces. Today, he joins School of War to discuss how the battlefield has evolved since Russia’s full-scale invasion: improvising with commercial drones in 2022, scaling a unit that now hunts targets at an unprecedented scale, what life is like on the front lines, and what the U.S. military can learn from his unit’s drone revolution.

This interview was originally conducted in Ukrainian and has been translated and dubbed into English.

02:23 – Yuri Fedorenko on Returning to War

05:08 – Building a Volunteer Unit Overnight

07:37 – Discovering the Power of Drones

09:18 – The Birth of Achilles

11:14 – Ukraine's Drone Revolution

13:12 – How the Unmanned Systems Force Works

17:43 – Why Drone Forces Punch Above Their Weight

18:59 – Inside Russia's Rubicon Drone Unit

21:35 – Beating Rubicon

23:04 – Lessons America Must Learn From Ukraine

25:29 – Why the West Should Train in Ukraine

26:54 – Why 20th Century Warfare Is Obsolete

27:20 – Drones Alone Cannot Win Wars

28:14 – Ukraine's Final Message to America

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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