A Thousand Snipers in the Sky: The New War in Ukraine

Non-paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/03/world/europe/...

China is watching especially for the adaptations Russia makes to occupation drones. Russia is the only drone invader example we’ve ever had, and will likely be the next.

However things go with Ukraine, this article appraises the current situation as a combo of WWI and WWIII. We know the evolution:

- Skilled defenders who know how to trick occupation drones. There are a lot of things about these people that should interest HN.

- What used to be a 2x gap between drone operators now lands with 10x effect. We don’t know how much of that 2x is AI. The article hints about an event in December.

- NATO and Russian light industry (which for several reasons Ukraine has not targeted) will need underground options on day one.

- Politics in this, as we’ve seen, is a mix of leaders who’ve sent soldiers to die, juxtaposed alongside comfortable whiners. Europe is very interested in what manifests out of Putin’s Peace.