{"id":9731,"date":"2026-08-05T01:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9731\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T01:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:39:14","slug":"something-ten-drone-operators-did-in-an-estonian-exercise-should-worry-nato-they-wiped-out-a-force-of-several-thousand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9731\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Ten Drone Operators Did in an Estonian Exercise Should Worry NATO: They Wiped Out a Force of Several Thousand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former top Ukrainian military commander, now the country\u2019s ambassador to the UK, was quoted on Monday as saying there was no prospect of the country joining NATO<\/a>, an aspiration entrenched in the constitution.\n<\/p>\n

Valery Zaluzhnyi, a former top Ukrainian military commander and now the country\u2019s ambassador to the UK, was cited by media outlet Evropeiska Pravda as telling a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors that Ukraine in no way met the military standards needed to join the alliance.\n<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine<\/p>\n

Ukraine DART Weapon Image Credit Ukraine Military<\/p>\n

Ukraine has enshrined in its constitution the strategic goal of membership in NATO and the EU, but has acknowledged that it would not currently be welcomed into NATO by all its members.\n<\/p>\n

Zaluzhnyi was fired as Ukraine\u2019s top commander in 2024 over differences with President Volodymyr Zelensky on how to conduct the war with Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zaluzhnyi Says NATO Still Adheres To World War II Doctrines<\/p>\n

Zaluzhnyi argued that NATO\u2019s military standards have fallen behind the realities of modern warfare and suggested Ukraine should instead pursue future European security alliances.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI know NATO really well. I personally worked to ensure that we adopted NATO standards, and every year, I heard stories about how we were just about to join NATO. Unfortunately, we will never join it,\u201d Zaluzhnyi said.\n<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine<\/p>\n

Ukraine Cruise Missile 2026. Image Credit: Creative Commons.<\/p>\n

He stated that it was \u201cimpossible with the level of development that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have \u2026 to join an organization guided by World War II doctrines.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Ukraine needed the technology \u201calready in \u200cuse in NATO member states, including anti-missile defense, space capabilities, etc.,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n

Zaluzhnyi said, \u201cMost likely, NATO will remain in the same form as it is, and will be for 12 years, like Ukraine, moving to the standards that need to be achieved in order to be at least half the level of the Russian Federation<\/a>.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Zaluzhnyi Says NATO Is Ill-Equipped For 21st-Century Conflicts<\/p>\n

The ambassador remains one of Ukraine\u2019s most popular and trusted leaders, with a 73 percent approval score<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And he makes an uncomfortable but very true statement regarding NATO\u2019s readiness to fight in a modern drone war<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Last month, he penned an opinion piece for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.\n<\/p>\n

In it, Zaluzhnyi said the war in Ukraine had \u201cexposed uncomfortable questions about whether NATO is equipped for the conflicts of the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine has every reason to appreciate the support NATO members have provided, and continue to provide. But respect for the alliance should not prevent an honest assessment of its shortcomings,\u201d he wrote.\n<\/p>\n

Ukraine prides itself on its military industry progress, particularly in drone technology, which it has extensively developed since Russia<\/a> invaded four and a half years ago.\n<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s weaknesses were highlighted last year during the alliance\u2019s Hedgehog 2025 exercises in Estonia<\/a>, which also involved Ukrainian troops.\n<\/p>\n

During one scenario, a group of several thousand troops, including a British brigade, was \u201cdestroyed\u201d by a team of just ten Ukrainian drone operators, War on the Rocks reported.\n<\/p>\n

WOTR wrote, \u201cUkraine has spent four years building a warfighting machine more agile than NATO\u2019s legacy ecosystem. Ukraine now produces 4 million drones annually. Tellingly, in February 2026, two Ukrainian manufacturers were selected for the \u201cUnleashing American Drone Dominance\u201d initiative to help the Pentagon catch up.\u201d That\u2019s right, for the US to catch up to the Ukrainians.<\/p>\n

And it was from Ukraine earlier this year that 11 countries<\/a>, including the United States, requested Ukraine\u2019s assistance in countering Iranian Shahed drones<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s low-cost interceptor drones, like the Sting by Wild Hornets<\/a>, cost as little as $1,000 and can tilt the attritional economics of the ongoing conflict in favor of the United States and its Gulf partners.\n<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s combat-tested, low-cost solutions challenge the billions expended on air defense interceptors in the first 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Zaluzhnyi added, however, that \u201cUkraine\u2019s ability to sustain the war depends heavily upon continued backing from its allies,\u201d especially in the realm of ballistic missile defense, with the Patriot air defense interceptor.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Ukraine Can\u2019t Join NATO\u2026Yet<\/p>\n

Ukraine cannot join NATO while it remains in an active war,<\/a> as the alliance requires a unanimous consensus among its 32 members and Article 5\u2019s mutual defense guarantees could draw the bloc into a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia.\n<\/p>\n

While several NATO members agreed at recent summits that Ukraine\u2019s path to membership is \u201cirreversible\u201d, the immediate timeline remains blocked due to the ongoing war with Russia, which would immediately trigger Article 5.<\/p>\n

Since the Russian invasion in 2022, the US and NATO have treated Ukraine like the proverbial red-headed stepchild.\n<\/p>\n

But as recent events such as the Hedgehog 2025 exercises show, NATO needs Ukraine\u2019s expertise as much as Ukraine needs NATO\u2019s manufacturing capabilities.\n<\/p>\n

About the Author Steve Balestrieri<\/p>\n

Steve Balestrieri<\/a> is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former top Ukrainian military commander, now the country\u2019s ambassador to the UK, was quoted on Monday as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,940,66,462,7,140,20,457,71,222],"class_list":["post-9731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-drones","tag-eu","tag-military","tag-missiles","tag-nato","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-uk","tag-ukraine","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}