Ukraine Military History Institute
Drones, Robots and Autonomy
How to Hunt Drone Teams: Rob Lee and Putiata on Howitzers
Six to eight rounds, then drones: Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata on hunting enemy drone teams with ISR, FPVs and maybe one or two howitzers.
Episodes
New conversations, released regularly
He Beat Federer at Wimbledon. Then He Joined SBU Alpha: Serhiy Stakhovskyi
At 1 a.m. on 27 February 2022 every car at the Slovak border was leaving Ukraine. One former tennis pro walked in. Turning SBU Alpha down, the Oskil crossing, arming FPV drones from old Soviet bombs, and why SBU Alpha went public on Operation Spiderweb.
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Operation Vivaldi From the Inside: 3rd Corps’ American Advisor with Rob Lee
A Ukrainian corps ran a multi-brigade offensive and, by its commander’s count, lost seven times fewer soldiers than Russia — 250 prisoners, 12,000 captured drones. The man advising that corps goes by the call sign Jackie. The avalanche assault, ground drones behind Russian lines, the cappuccino line, and the culture that made it possible.
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Russia Will Lose the Way It Lost Crimea: Andriy Zagorodnyuk
Nicholas I started a war he was certain he could not lose, and lost it in Ukraine without one decisive battle. Ukraine’s former defence minister on the siege of Sevastopol that was never a siege, supplies that reached Crimea faster from London than from Moscow, and the third way a war is lost — running out of ways to win.
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Ian Laffey on Why Ukraine Is the Only Market That Proves Your Weapons Work
A hackathon they did not place in, a tweet that reached millions, and drone navigation that works with no GPS at all. Why buying at brigade level makes this the only market that tells you the truth about your product — and the catapult that broke it on day one.
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“A Foundation of Sand”: Gen. David Petraeus on Getting the Big Ideas Right
The four tasks of a strategic leader, and why getting the first one wrong makes the other three worthless — tested against MacArthur at the Yalu, Vietnam in 1968, the Surge in Baghdad, and nine years of Afghanistan. The first interview this podcast ever recorded.
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Silicon Valley Is Late: D3’s Eveline Buchatskiy on Ukraine’s Defense Tech Boom
The fund nobody would bank, why founders must drop the dual-use disguise, the $128 million Bundeswehr contract, and the unit that bolted Starlink onto a drone and doubled its reach — free R&D from the best military laboratory on earth.
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“The Next Month Decides the Winter”: Rob Lee & Francis Farrell Back From the Front
Rob Lee and Francis Farrell just returned from a week on the front line. The change of command, the expanding kill zone, glide bombs, autonomous drones, and why the next month of weather decides whether Russia gets a foothold in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk before winter.
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“If You’re Not in Ukraine, You’re Not in Defense”: Brave1 CEO Andrii Hrytseniuk
The CEO of Ukraine’s defense innovation platform — a former bank CIO — on problem statements instead of requirement documents, six laws and fifty decrees rewritten, 600 products codified to NATO standards, and why he is certain the majority of strikes will be fully autonomous next year.
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What Happens If Russia Mobilizes: Rob Lee & Francis Farrell on the Coming Winter
One of the last journalists still reporting from the zero line: Dobropillia — the most destroyed city he has seen — the Donbas fortress belt under pressure, the October–November danger window, and the mobilization question hanging over the winter.
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Russia Is Learning Faster Than You Think: The Most Sophisticated Assault of the War
Rob Lee and Dima Putiata on the war right now: have we reached a turning point? The most sophisticated Russian assault yet, 20 FPVs to stop one tank, 80% of armor losses from drones, Starlink as a single point of failure — and Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief.
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Inside GUR’s International Legion: An Elite Commander on Rat Tactics, the 80% Drone War, and the Future of Special Operations
His face is blurred and his voice is altered — he is still fighting. A GUR special forces company commander on Russia’s rat tactics, a kill zone where 80% of casualties come from drones, and why future special operations units should be max 30% infantry.
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The British Marine Who Defended Mariupol: Shaun Pinner in Conversation with Ievgen Malik
Two Marines of the same 36th Brigade battalion — one British, one Ukrainian — together for the first time since Russian captivity: the siege of Mariupol, the breakout attempts, capture, torture, the show trial — and the warning both now carry to the West.
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E-Points, Busification, and the Generals Nobody Can Fire: Inside the Army’s Systemic Crisis (Part 2)
The Fedorov panel concludes: his farewell list of the army’s systemic problems, debated point by point — E-points and its perverse incentives, the half-built corps reform, busification, the foreigners’ revolving door — and the panel’s verdicts.
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Zelensky Fires His Defense Minister: Soldiers Speak Out — Rob Lee, Ryan O’Leary & Dima Putiata on the Week That Shook Kyiv (Part 1)
Emergency panel filmed in Kyiv two days after the dismissal of defense minister Fedorov: why the streets are protesting, the case for gutting the general staff, the Fedorov–Syrskyi clash over how to fight this war — and the window for a 2026 offensive.
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Out of 650, Only 20 Have Come Home: Ievgen Malik on Russian Captivity (Part 2)
The captivity story concludes: told he was going home, Ievgen Malik was instead transferred to Prison No. 10 in Mordovia — the standing regime, ritualized beatings, scars hidden from inspectors — until Friday, September 13th, 2024, when his name was finally called.
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“Captivity Is Ten Times Worse Than Mariupol”: Ievgen Malik on the Fall of Mariupol and Russian Captivity (Part 1)
Rob Lee interviews Ievgen Malik on Mariupol’s final days: the failed April 9th breakout that killed ~400 marines in one night, the negotiation on the bridge, the surrender — and the descent through Olenivka into Ryazhsk prison, where the beatings began on arrival.
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The Making of a Marine: Ievgen Malik on Poltava, the Decision to Fight, and the Last Stand at Mariupol
The origin story before the captivity arc: Poltava, Maidan from abroad, signing with Ukraine’s oldest Marine battalion without telling his parents — and holding a Mariupol factory position for a month, knowing the only outcomes were death or captivity.
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Inside the Battalion That Killed Over 2,000 Russians in 2 Months
Rob Lee interviews Colonel “Shram” Tovstyi, commander of UAV Battalion Corsair (38th Marine Brigade): three-layer drone doctrine, Rubicon, fiber optic vs radio FPVs, UGV logistics, and the point system — from the Pokrovsk front.
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Back from the Front — Ukraine Closes the Deep-Strike Gap
Rob Lee returns from Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk & Kharkiv with a granular frontline read: corps-level Hornets, brigade reform, $4K recon drones, UGVs, AI targeting, and why Ukrainian armor assaults may return.
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The Kill Zone: Drone Warfare & Brigade Autonomy
Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata break down the 15km kill zone, drone-driven brigade autonomy, the Dobropillia crisis, middle strike operations, and Ukraine’s path back to maneuver warfare.
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Why History Wins Wars: Blitzkrieg & Mission Command
Sam Cook and Lt. Gen. Zabrodskyi dissect the Blitzkrieg myth, elastic defense, and mission command — how the German army innovated under fire from 1916 to 1940, and what Ukraine can learn from it.
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Russia's Next Move: The Front Line Right Now
Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata break down the 2025 battlefield — Russia's infiltration tactics, drone lines, electronic warfare, and how Ukraine is adapting.
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Why Ukraine's Military History Matters
Sam Cook and Rob Lee on why Ukraine's military past is essential to understanding today's frontline — from tracking the Russian buildup to the lessons reshaping modern warfare.
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