Why is technology playing such a decisive role in this war? Who is ahead in technological innovation—Ukraine or Russia? How are drones reshaping the battlefield, and how might they also transform technologies of peace? And why must Europe step up its technological cooperation with Ukraine?

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Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.

Guest: Glib Voloskyi, analyst at the Initiatives Centre of Come Back Alive (Povernys zhyvym) — one of Ukraine’s most prominent charitable foundations, supporting the military and veterans since 2014.

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Explaining Ukraine is produced by UkraineWorld, an English-language media project about Ukraine, run by Internews Ukraine.

Listen on various platforms (apple, youtube, spotify, soundcloud, amazon etc): https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

This episode is also made in partnership with Politeia, a Ukrainian NGO focusing on preparing a new generation of change-makers in Ukraine.

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Donations are welcome via PayPal: [email protected]

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CONTENTS:

00:00 — The role of technology in war: who's winning the tech race?

01:34 — Russia’s real strategy: what are the goals?

02:12 — How Russia miscalculated: failed plans, logistics collapse and retreats

05:52 — The evolving Russian strategy: attrition and imperial ambitions

08:41 — Is this really a “Ukrainian conflict” or is it actually a Russian imperial war?

10:10 — Ukraine’s defence: from resilience to drone innovation

11:32 — The fierce race in drone technology

13:41 — What’s next? Land robots, unmanned vehicles and battlefield robotics

15:07 — Artificial intelligence at war: from target recognition to social media scans

16:40 — Dependency on Chinese tech: risk or overstated concern?

17:54 — Europe’s wake-up call: how possible it is to lose the technological race

20:33 — Tanks, drones and the future of warfare: what lessons are really learned?

25:24 — NATO partners and military conservatism: who adapts, who resists?

26:19 — Ukraine’s defence industry revival: grassroots innovation vs. scaling up

29:56 — Naval drones, land drones and robotics: Ukraine’s asymmetric advantage

31:37 — The myth of a "wonder weapon"

37:32 — Human body vs. artificial bodies: why soldiers can’t be replaced

39:01 — Why Russia destroys cities instead of capturing them

40:26 — The hidden battlefield: information wars and internal destabilisation

42:12 — The greatest danger ahead: forced concessions