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Russia is ramping up Shahed drone production using European-made components.
Investigations

Investigation: How Russian drones exploit European technologies to strike Ukraine, and beyond

by Alisa Yurchenko

Editor's note: This story is part of a cross-border investigative project that involved eight newsrooms, initiated by De Tijd (Belgium) and coordinated by the Kyiv Independent and OCCRP. Other stories published within the project are linked at the bottom of this investigation. A tiny Austrian sensor designed for precise motion control made an impressive journey across the globe. Some time after being sold to a company in Hong Kong, it turned up in Ukraine inside a long-range military drone laun

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Ukraine’s deep strikes make Russians feel the war

Ukraine has increasingly pursued a strategy of "bringing the war back to Russia" — aiming to erode the perception that the full-scale invasion is distant and cost-free for Russian society. This approach was explicitly articulated by President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2025, as Ukraine significantly expanded its deep-strike campaign inside Russia. "The war was brought from Russia, and it is to Russia that the war must be pushed back. They must be the ones forced into peace. They are the ones who mu

Fire burning at Russia's Volgograd oil refinery in Volgograd, Russia, on Feb. 11, 2026.

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Amid Iran war, Ukrainian drone makers fear Zelensky risks missing 'window of opportunity'

Ukrainian Sting drone interceptors in an undated photo.

Ukraine’s drone industry is abuzz with anticipation of a deal that would allow them to sell interceptor drones abroad, hoping for the first big relaxation of wartime export restrictions that would finally put their technology in the hands of foreign militaries amid the U.S. war with Iran. But President Volodymyr Zelensky is seemingly holding out for a deal over PAC-3 missiles, an anti-air munition for Patriot systems that are uniquely good at defending against Russian ballistic attacks. The re

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