Opinion

As war fuels innovation, Ukraine is turning battlefield breakthroughs into exportable firepower, pushing to become a major player in the global arms trade while walking a tightrope of transparency, oversight, and national security.

Pokrovsk, a city of friendship and song, gave the world its Christmas tune—a carol sung a century ago for Ukraine’s independence. One hundred years later, as Russian forces move to erase the city, Ukraine is still fighting for that same freedom.

When a Russian drone obliterated a Ukrainian school dorm in the dead of night, the wreckage held a surprise: American microchips. A group of Ukrainian victims is now suing some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley and Texas tech, accusing them of enabling Russian and Iranian weapons with their components—despite global sanctions and export controls.

Europe, not just Ukraine, is at war. Russia’s hybrid operations across the continent now reach the level of a sustained, below-threshold hybrid war against Europe. Former top NATO officials are warning that Europe must act.

Every day, thousands of Russian First-Person-View (FPV) Drones fly over the sky in Ukraine. Those piloting them are looking for equipment, positions, soldiers, volunteers, journalists, and even civilians. This is the story of what it feels like to survive the kind of attack that many people do not, and what it means to work on Ukraine's frontline in the age of the flying killer robot.