ChinaTalk Ukraine's Drone War with Shashank and Rob Lee
Oct 30, 2025
Rob Lee, a former U.S. Marine and senior analyst at FPRI with frontline experience in Ukraine, teams up with Shashank Joshi, a defense and foreign affairs commentator for The Economist. They dive into the transformative role of drones in modern warfare, revealing that UAVs are responsible for around 80% of casualties. The duo discusses the intricate relationship between drones and artillery, the challenges of battlefield transparency, and the implications of commercial drone technology from China, all while analyzing how these lessons can reshape military strategies globally.
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Drones Are The Dominant Killer Now
- UAVs (including FPVs) likely cause the majority of battlefield casualties in Ukraine today, often cited around 75–90% by commanders.
- But this figure depends on Ukraine's specific tactics and works symbiotically with artillery rather than replacing it.
Artillery And Drones Work Together
- UAVs and artillery form a symbiotic kill web: drones find, canalize, and enable artillery; artillery creates conditions for drone strikes.
- Ignoring that interplay misreads how losses actually occur on the battlefield.
Night Bomber Unit Quietly Devastates Armor
- Rob described a Lazor Group night-bomber unit with ~90 crews that destroyed thousands of vehicles yet rarely posts videos.
- Their nighttime operations forced Russian armor to stay farther from the front to survive.
