EDITOR'S CORNER: Ukrainian Drones in Europe

This week, it's really hard to think what topic to write about. The world right now is constantly changing around us, and attention is being drawn away from the war in Ukraine. What's going on in Iran, the price of oil, the rising cost of living, and the situation with China are grabbing people's attention.

In this week's blog, let's focus on Ukraine because it's still necessary to look at the war and what's going on there.

SITUATION IN EUROPE

The situation in Ukraine has not changed very much, so I won't be focusing on that today. The front line situation is slightly improving in Ukraine's favor. They are pushing back the Russians, but not by much. For Victory Day, there was an exchange of 1,000 prisoners on each side. However, drones and missiles keep hitting Ukrainian cities every single night. People are dying: civilians, children, and the elderly.

Europe's situation is now different, so let's focus on that. Why the European situation has changed is mostly because Ukrainian drones are regularly in allied airspace, to the point that they have to be shot down and airspace also has to be closed. While the Ukrainian long-distance sanctions work, they might test the relationship with European countries.

Their population understands and supports Ukraine's fight; however, these regular occurrences might push the limits too far.

UKRAINE’S DRONE STRATEGY

I also want to discuss Ukraine's drone strategy because it's important to understand why they are still taking this risk. The risk I'm talking about is the one highlighted above.

While traditional sanctions work, they are slow and sometimes ineffective. To combat this problem, Ukraine has a plan to strangle Russia's economy by aiming to cripple its oil industry. On top of this, drones are aimed at military targets. This is a two-pronged approach. One prong targets the oil industry, where the money comes from, and the other prong targets Russia's fighting capabilities. When the equipment is gone and Russia doesn't have the ability to pay for more, Ukraine hopes Putin will be forced to finish the war.

As discussed in previous blogs, Ukraine manufactures millions of drones per year. A lot of these drones now have long-range capability. This means that Kyiv can target Moscow and places close to Finland, and the Baltics. Because of the long distance, there is a higher chance of a fully loaded drone getting off course and ending up in an allied country. Russia also has the capability to guide these drones on a different route using electronic warfare.

EUROPE’S UNEASE AND RESPONSE

Since around March, at least one drone per week has ended up in countries such as Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. This has caused many issues. In Finland, two drones fell to the ground and were found by civilians. In Estonia, one drone had to be shot down. In Latvia, the government collapsed when a drone from Ukraine ended up in Latvian airspace.

These are quite serious matters. The population has become worried because a normal civilian doesn't know if the drone is Russian, Ukrainian, or something else. On top of this, there are worries that a loaded drone could fall and detonate in a civilian area.

Europe supports Ukraine morally, financially, and by providing material for fighting. There are also humanitarian aid costs, administration costs, and other regular expenses that Europe is shouldering for Ukraine right now. This is happening at a time when European countries are also struggling financially. The Iranian war has made things much worse.

My question now, and I think a lot of people have the same thought, is how long these incursions will occur before Europe starts to become fed up. This is not something I want to see, because I fully believe Ukraine is fighting for all of Europe. However, these incursions are quite costly, annoying, and also dangerous. I think if people start dying because of this, it will have very damaging consequences.

Ukraine should keep hitting Russia where it hurts most. Long-distance drone fighting has the added bonus of making all Russians feel like the war can be anywhere, not just close to the border with Ukraine. This will cause fear and panic, and might actually destabilize Russia enough that the Kremlin will be forced to end the war in Ukraine.

CONCLUSION

The world is full of distractions, worries, rising costs, and bad news every day. Our attention is being dragged in every direction multiple times per day, per hour, sometimes even within a few minutes. Even in such a situation, we need to take stock of what's happening around us and remember that the war in Ukraine is critical to everyone.

Ukraine is scrambling to survive this war on its own. And yes, some of their tactics are also affecting us who are not involved in this war. We need to show patience, understanding, and still support Ukraine in their fight for freedom and democracy.

I also urge Ukrainians to understand how Europe is feeling and try their best to minimize the damage and the incursions happening in European countries.