World rushing to Ukraine to study drone warfare as front-line lessons go global

World is watching Ukraine become a global drone-warfare classroom as militaries, insurgent groups and criminal networks seek to learn from Kyiv's tactics. Kyiv's forces described an unprecedented operation that struck a Russian shadow-fleet oil tanker more than 1,200 miles from Ukraine using aerial drones, the first time such drones disabled a tanker at sea rather than a naval asset. In a separate strike, Ukrainian forces hit a Russian submarine with an underwater drone, underscoring how drone warfare is expanding beyond traditional domains.

Ukraine's battlefield has become a rapid-learning loop that extends beyond its borders. Russia has drawn fighters from the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia, including more than 15,000 North Korean troops deployed to the Kursk front. North Korea's leadership has warned these troops have adapted quickly, learning small-unit tactics, first-person-view drone use and counter-drone measures. Ukrainian defense intelligence deputy head Maj. Gen. Vadym Skibitskyi said in October that Pyongyang has begun mass-producing FPV and larger attack drones, directly informed by Russian battlefield methods.

Russia has quietly dispatched a rotational drone-training and advisory mission to Caracas as part of its Equator Task Force, with more than 120 Russian troops led by Col Gen Oleg Makarevich, training Venezuelan forces in unmanned-aircraft operations. In Haiti, explosive- and kamikaze-drones have struck gang-controlled slums in Port-au-Prince, killing civilians, illustrating how drone warfare is spilling into fragile states.

Ukraine's reach extends beyond Europe. Special-forces units trained Sudanese troops in 2023 in drone operations later used against Russian-backed forces, including Wagner mercenaries. Reporting suggests Kyiv may have provided drone training to Mali rebels seeking to target Russian forces there, and it helped train rebels in Syria who fought the Russia-backed Assad regime.

Kyiv has trained Brazilian volunteers serving in Ukraine, and South American criminal groups are turning the war into a workshop for acquiring drone skills, including basic FPV-drone tactics. One case highlighted by the Kyiv Independent involves Philippe Marques Pinto, identified by Rio de Janeiro police as a Comando Vermelho member with a drug-trafficking record, who joined Ukraine’s ranks, moved between units and posted a video pledging loyalty to the gang. The Brazilian example underscores how nonstate actors can gain battlefield know-how in Ukraine.

Colombian veterans describe a similar pattern. Some have told interviewers they traveled from Ukraine to Mexico to join cartel groups for roughly $2,000 a month, and there are reports that the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel have recruited ex-Colombian soldiers. As these groups gain drone capability, the appeal to nonstate actors grows.

These dynamics are reshaping regional security. In Mexico, authorities have documented hundreds of incidents where drones carried explosives against security forces; in 2023 more than 260 such incidents were recorded, and in August authorities acknowledged two soldiers were killed by a drone-delivered explosion in Michoacán. In 2024, a drone strike was followed by an infantry-style assault on a remote community.

Across the border, U.S. officials are seeing a parallel trend. Homeland Security has detected more than 60,000 cartel drone flights near the southern border in six months, with an average of 328 drones coming within 500 meters of the United States every day.

"Cartels are already using Chinese and Russian technology to move drugs across the US border," said Bryan Pickens, a former U.S. Army Green Beret who has fought alongside Ukrainian special forces. "Ukraine can train US operators in interception, surveillance, strike integration and counter-electronic warfare. We need Ukraine to help professionalize Western warfighters, to teach how these systems are used and how to defend against them."

"You are not learning fast enough from Ukraine, and you need to support Ukraine so those lessons don’t disappear through attrition," added Xen, a former U.S. special-forces operator who has worked with a Ukrainian regiment.

The spread of drone warfare to nonstate actors is already underway. The front line has become a testing ground for the future of asymmetric warfare, a dynamic that continues to unfold as foreign fighters, criminal groups and regional powers adapt and exchange lessons learned on Ukraine’s battlefields.