Springtime Optimism Rising in Ukraine, Whose Anti-Drone Expertise Is Now Needed by America, Arab States

With temperatures at Kyiv hitting 60 degrees Fahrenheit this week, Ukrainians are emerging blinking into the spring sunshine after a winter of blackouts and frigid apartments. With the arrival of spring, they believe they have bested Russia’s “General Winter.”Back in December, top Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov snarled on Russian state TV that Russia’s air blitz against Ukraine would “turn off the lights for good and make them freeze in the dark this winter” and “break the will of the Ukrainian people.”Pounding Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones, Russia managed in February to knock out as much as 75 percent of Ukraine’s generating capacity. By President Volodymyr Zelensky’s calculation, Russia hit Ukraine this winter with 738 missiles, 14,670 guided aerial bombs, and 19,000 drones.But much like the Nazi Luftwaffe’s Blitz against London in the winter of 1940 to 1941, Russia’s bombing blitz only stiffened spines in Ukraine. In a survey of 1,003 Ukrainians taken in the depths of winter — the last week in January — 65 percent agreed with the statement that they are ready to endure the war “for as long as necessary.” In this poll, conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 88 percent agreed that Russia’s weaponization of winter was an effort to force them to surrender.“The severe winter of 2025-2026 is another challenge for Ukraine and Ukrainians,” the Institute’s executive director, Anton Hrushetsky, said. “Ukrainians are once again demonstrating that they are able to survive in the most difficult conditions. And not just survive, but also maintain optimism and will.”Ukrainians survived by sleeping in subway stations, melting snow for drinking water, huddling in warming tents, and firing up the more than 1,000 generators shipped in by European supporters. Now, as the snow retreats, many Ukrainians say they have won their winter war.People rest in a subway station being used as a bomb shelter during a rocket attack on Kyiv, December 5, 2022. AP/Andrew Kravchenko“Ukraine Defeats Russia’s Winter Bombardment Campaign,” headlined the Kyiv Post. “Historically it’s pretty much impossible to beat Russia in winter war — but Ukraine just did.”“The Russians had a clear goal; they wanted to destroy our power grid and heating infrastructure, and they made significant progress,” Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, told Ukraine’s TSN television. “Society, notwithstanding all its variety, held out. We didn’t have mass protests about blackouts, which was what the Russian Federation was really depending on.”American-mediated peace talks with Russia approach their one-year anniversary with no solution in sight. However, Ukrainians have reasons for an uptick in optimism.In a series of battlefield reversals, Russia last month lost about 200 square miles of occupied Ukrainian land. The reversals came after Russian soldiers lost their communications. First, Elon Musk cut off clandestine Russian army connections to Starlink, the satellite internet network. Then the Kremlin cut off access to the Messenger app. The goal was to force Messenger’s 100 million users in Russia to move to Max, a Kremlin-controlled messaging system.In another morale booster, the Western and Arab world suddenly swiveled to Ukraine, begging for help to repel Iran’s missile and drone attacks. Axios reported yesterday that as recently as last August, the Pentagon turned down a Ukrainian offer to equip American bases in the Persian Gulf against Ukrainian drones.An air strike at Tehran, Iran, March 2, 2026. AP/Mohsen GanjiNow, after Iranian drones and missiles killed seven American soldiers and wounded 140 more, Ukraine anti-drone systems and operators are being flown into the region to protect American bases. Requests have come in from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. After four years of defense against Iranian and Russian drones, Ukraine now has a kill ratio of 85 percent. Last year alone, Ukraine combatted an estimated 50,000 Iranian-designed Shahed drones.Although the Pentagon was not moved by Ukraine’s powerpoint pitch last summer, the mathematics are simple. A Shahed kamikaze drone costs $30,000. The lead American interceptor, a Patriot missile, costs $4 million. A combat-proven Ukrainian-made interceptor drone costs $1,500.Last year, Lockheed Martin delivered only 620 Patriot missiles worldwide. Ukrainian factories can churn out tens of thousands of drone interceptors each month.Ukrainians hope their unique anti-drone experience and technology will give them leverage with the Trump administration in dealing with Vladimir Putin. However, in public at least, the administration shows a partiality to Mr. Putin. On Monday, Mr. Trump said he had a “very good” one-hour telephone call with Mr. Putin. He said the subject was largely Iran, a firm ally of Russia. Mr. Trump then hinted he might ease oil sanctions to push down American gasoline prices.On press reports that Russia is providing information to help Iran target American troops, America’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, told CNBC yesterday that “on the call with” Mr. Trump, “the Russians said they have not been sharing. That’s what they said. So, we can take them at their word.”

Springtime Optimism Rising in Ukraine, Whose Anti-Drone Expertise Is Now Needed by America, Arab States

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