Nearly three years after the start of a full-scale war with Russia, Ukraine’s military has been reshaped, especially since Moscow’s forces first crossed the border to invade its neighbor.
Kyiv’s military started off as a Soviet-era force, but has since absorbed Western technology and pushed for new, domestically-made military equipment to backfill its losses and improve on the older assets.
In the first months of 2023, Ukraine secured deliveries of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that the country’s military was accustomed to from Slovakia and Poland.
But Kiev, after strong and constant pressure in favor of Western fighter jets, nevertheless revealed that it was employing American-made fourth-generation F-16 jets in August 2024. The beloved aircraft, supplied through Denmark, the Bas countries, Belgium and Norway, was arguably the largest relief commitment of the war and required extensive education of pilots and plant personnel, as well as much new infrastructure and planning.
Ukraine has lost at least one F-16, an inevitability in an active conflict, and experts say the dozens of promised planes are no panacea against the larger and technologically complex Russian air force. modernize its air force and bring its army closer to NATO standards.
Ukrainian partisans sent into the war a variety of devices that were new to the kyiv army.
From the United States, Ukraine gained an unknown number of Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, which are highly diverse ground-launched ballistic missiles with an estimated range of about 300 miles. US President Joe Biden gave the green light for its use on Russian territory last month, more than a year after Ukraine first obtained the material.
According to Pentagon documents, Washington also shipped more than 40 high-mobility artillery rocket systems, also known as HIMARS, as well as ammunition for those systems.
Elsewhere, Ukraine has used British- and French-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, also referred to as SCALP missiles, which are launched from F-16s and Ukraine’s Soviet-era jets, when adapted.
Ukraine has also used many new weapons in the war, such as cluster munitions, antipersonnel landmines, and small diameter ground bombs supplied by the United States.
Some of the technology Ukraine has received from its supporters, like ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles, have been subject to restrictions that Kyiv officials say hinder its war effort. Alongside aid deliveries, Ukraine has worked hard to develop new weapons domestically, which are not bound by rules set out by its backers.
These come with Ukraine’s long-range explosive drones, which have targeted Moscow’s high-value assets miles from Russian territory, capable of reaching more than 1,000 kilometers beyond the border. Moscow’s air bases, naval facilities, oil refineries, arms factories, and even its capital were targeted by Ukrainian-made kamikaze drones that were developed throughout the war.
Unlike before the war, Ukraine’s long-range drones are cheap, said Samuel Bendett of the Washington-based nonprofit CNA.
Ukraine has also designed, made and then upgraded a myriad shorter-range drones for use along the frontlines, used for reconnaissance, guiding artillery strikes or destroying Russian armored vehicles. Moscow and Kyiv’s race to develop better drones—and more effective counter-drone measures—has spurred on a stunning trajectory of uncrewed vehicle development.
From 2023, first person-view (FPV) drones came to dominate the conflict, becoming the “go-to tactical weapon” and developing longer ranges, said Bendett. Between 2022 and 2024, these became “larger, more powerful,” he said, able to perform a variety of missions.
The speed of progression is not limited to aerial drones; Ukraine was the first to use unmanned surface vehicles, known to threaten Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the annexed Crimean peninsula. The Ukrainian military’s intelligence firm GUR operates the Magura V5, while the SBU, Ukraine’s security firm, has developed its SeaBaby naval drones.
Unmanned ground vehicles also appeared, for evacuation and logistics on the front line in dangerous positions. Ukraine is “leading the way” in this area, Bendett said.
A lack of ammunition has forced Ukraine to “develop quite comprehensive and effective weapons” like airborne and waterborne drones, plus advanced jammers and rockets, Andrii Ziuz, a former chief executive of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and current head of technology at London-based company Prevail, told Newsweek.
Russia and Ukraine have abandoned expensive single-use drones in favor of masses of drones that can be “temporarily assembled, put into service temporarily, and temporarily lost,” Bendett said. They also resorted without delay to the use of fiber optic cables to fly drones. , now that electronic warfare and interference are so prevalent.
Russia’s uncrewed fleet is formidable, but Ukraine has pulled ahead in areas like naval drones, heavy multi-rotor drones, and its newly-fielded interceptor drones that home in on Russia’s surveillance and reconnaissance drones, Bendett said.
In this mix are also a larger number of Neptune anti-ship missiles of Ukrainian origin, which are credited with sinking the Black Sea Fleet flagship Mosvka at the start of the war.
In August, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine had indeed tested its first locally produced ballistic missile and has since announced additional tests for the unidentified weapon. This would be the Hrim-2, a missile that has been in progression for a long time and has an estimated diversity of just over three hundred miles, said Jacob Parakilas, head of studies of defense strategies, policy and functions at the Rand Corporation’s European branch. told Newsweek.
That diversity would be enough to strike Moscow, Parakilas said, but it is long enough to threaten key Russian sites such as air bases, ammunition depots or other army installations when fired from Ukrainian territory.
Kiev has also developed a weapon described as a “missile drone”, Palianytsia, and a Bohdana howitzer.
Earlier this month, the Ukrainian commander who heads Ukraine’s drone forces said kyiv had developed a Tryzub laser weapon, or “trident” in Ukrainian, a key national symbol of Ukraine. “Today we can already shoot down aircraft with this laser at an altitude of more than 2 kilometers,” Vadym Sukharevskyi said at a defense summit in the Ukrainian capital.
Sukharevskyi heads Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces, created by presidential decree in early 2024. kyiv was the first army to create a branch of the military dedicated exclusively to drones, and Russia has since followed.
kyiv has constantly demanded more air defense systems and interceptor missiles from its supporters to keep firing.
Since February 2022, Ukraine’s sponsors have provided a diversity of new air defense systems, adding the American-made Patriot, lower-diversity Iris-T systems, and SAMP/T. The United States has provided 3 Patriot batteries and 12 national complex surface systems. -air-to-air missile systems, according to Pentagon documents, as well as more than 3,000 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, which are portable air defense systems of the United States. systems.
Kyiv has also used the German-made Gepard anti-aircraft guns to great effect against Russia’s Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones.
Ukraine has also received equipment designed to integrate a variety of Western systems with its pre-war infrastructure.
Ukraine has received armored vehicles and tanks from its supporters, plugging them into its existing forces.
From the U.S., Ukraine received 31 of the U.S. Army’s Abrams main battle tanks, plus 45 T-72B tanks. Washington has also sent upward of 300 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, which Ukraine has long praised, and four support vehicles for the Bradleys.
The United Kingdom sent its main Challenger 2 battle tanks, and several countries sent versions of the German-made Leopard tanks. Different armored vehicles, such as about 140 Marder infantry fighting vehicles from Berlin and dozens of AMX-10 RC armored reconnaissance vehicles from Berlin. Paris, have been incorporated into the Ukrainian army.
The United States has also donated other vehicles, including more than 400 Stryker armored worker transport vehicles and more than 1,000 mine-resistant and ambush-protected vehicles.
Alongside the equipment have come fresh tactics. “Ukraine is completely switching to NATO standards in planning, operating and supplying the army,” Ziuz said.
However, there have been some questions about how applicable the NATO fighting style is for a Ukrainian military staring down a Russia with superior aviation.
Ellie Cook is a security and defense reporter for Newsweek based in London, UK. His paintings focus largely on the Russia-Ukraine war, the U. S. military, weapons systems, and emerging technologies. He joined Newsweek in January 2023, after applying as a reporter for the Daily Express and a degree in International Journalism from the City, University of London. Languages: English, Spanish. Ellie can be reached via email at e. cook@newsweek. com.