From volunteering in March 2022 to whispering in the ear of Ukraine’s High Command and authoring the paper that birthed an entirely new branch of the military, Ukrainian-born Canadian national Illya Sekirin has been at the heart of Ukraine's drone revolution rewriting the rules of warfare.

We explore the thinking that led President Zelenskyy to create the Unmanned Systems Forces as Ukraine’s fourth armed service, the impact that has had on wider existing frontline forces and the future of “drone blitzkrieg" in which an overwhelming assault of unmanned systems might deliver history.

What You’ll Learn

- Drone Blitzkrieg Defined: How cheap, massed drones have replaced traditional artillery and armour as the new kings of the battlefield.

- Birth of a New Military Branch: The inside story of the paper Illya wrote that convinced Zelenskyy to spin drones out into their own service (and why traditional commanders are furious). 

- The China Dependency Crisis: If the next war cuts Western supply lines, Russia keeps flying while NATO stalls - unless we act now.

Illya Sekirin isn’t just watching the drone revolution - he’s one of the people who built it. His book Rise of the Machines – Drone Warfare in the Russia-Ukraine War: Tactics, Operations, Strategy is out in January.

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.

Episode ID: 1000740131743

GUID: 9606631f-2053-4dc4-bb83-e000807c23bd

Release Date: 08/12/2025, 05:30:00