David Kirichenko
@kirichenko.bsky.social
Ukrainian-American freelance journalist | Associate Research Fellow, Henry Jackson Society https://youtu.be/Rz5tYcQDzuE
My firsthand account from inside the kill zone on Ukraine's frontline. Out there, it feels like the world's end. Drones are everywhere, always hunting. war.huri.harvard.edu/2026/07/21/i...
Inside Ukraine’s Kill Zone, Where Drones Hunt Everything That Moves
Ukrainian-American journalist David Kirichenko reports from the frontlines of Ukraine, where he was embedded with various military units.
war.huri.harvard.edu
Indrukwekkend verslag vanuit de kill zone, door @kirichenko.bsky.social. "Om de paar minuten deden explosies de grond schudden. Naast me, op een klein scherm, zag ik de laatste momenten van Russische soldaten die zich door de rook bewogen." "Een voor een verdwenen ze toen de drones toesloegen."
Inside Ukraine’s Kill Zone, Where Drones Hunt Everything That Moves
Ukrainian-American journalist David Kirichenko reports from the frontlines of Ukraine, where he was embedded with various military units.
war.huri.harvard.edu
@kirichenko.bsky.social offers us a view from the frontlines. war.huri.harvard.edu/2026/07/21/i...
Inside Ukraine’s Kill Zone, Where Drones Hunt Everything That Moves
Ukrainian-American journalist David Kirichenko reports from the frontlines of Ukraine, where he was embedded with various military units.
war.huri.harvard.edu
I volunteered with Alina’s Team for 10 days in March 2026. She is based in Dnipro. We delivered food bags to families and seniors near the frontline. And we supplied military units too. Alina is a hero. @kirichenko.bsky.social www.kyivpost.com/post/80005
At Ukraine’s Front, Women Take On Increasingly Dangerous Humanitarian Work
More than four years into the war, women in Ukraine are increasingly leading civilian evacuations and delivering humanitarian aid in frontline areas as the pool of male volunteers shrinks.
kyivpost.com
My report on how Ukraine is using drones / cheap tech to flex its military might against Russia around the world. cepa.org/article/ukra...
Ukraine's Explosive Global Reach
Drone and communications technology and audacious intelligence operations have allowed Kyiv to attack Russia beyond major battlefields.
cepa.org
The Russian military fighting today isn’t the force that invaded Ukraine in 2022. After 4+ years of war, it has become better at recognizing battlefield change, absorbing lessons and institutionalizing successful drone tactics. www.forbes.com/sites/davidk...
How Russia Learned To Adapt To Drone Warfare
The Russia-Ukraine war is increasingly defined by institutional learning, as organizations like Rubicon seek to spread battlefield innovations across the force.
forbes.com
"Rusland combineert FPV-drones, artillerie, glijbommen en op afstand afgeleverde antipersoneelsmijnen in een gecoördineerde poging om gemeenschappen aan de frontlinie onbewoonbaar te maken." Door @kirichenko.bsky.social
Russia's Drone Siege Is Emptying Ukraine's Frontline Cities
Russian FPV drones are increasingly targeting transport, emergency services and civilians. New reporting shows how tactics from Kherson are spreading across Ukraine.
forbes.com
My report on how Russian human safari tactics are spreading across the front. www.forbes.com/sites/davidk...
Russia's Drone Siege Is Emptying Ukraine's Frontline Cities
Russian FPV drones are increasingly targeting transport, emergency services and civilians. New reporting shows how tactics from Kherson are spreading across Ukraine.
forbes.com
My report on how Russia is attempting to recruit women for the meatgrinder offensive. nationalinterest.org/feature/why-...
Why Russia Is Mobilizing Its Women for War
Russia’s heavy losses in Ukraine are forcing the Kremlin to attract women into the military.
nationalinterest.org
“Known as the Cyber Partisans, the group has spent the past five years targeting the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and, more recently, Russia itself.” @kirichenko.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/davidk...
Belarus's Cyber Partisans Are Taking The Fight To Russia
Cyber Partisans from Belarus helped disrupt Russian troop movements in 2022. Now the anti-Lukashenka hacker group is increasingly targeting Russia itself.
forbes.com
My report on the deep cooperation between the CIA and Ukraine’s intelligence services. www.forbes.com/sites/davidk...
How The CIA Helped Build Ukraine's Intelligence Advantage
After Russia seized Crimea, Ukrainian intelligence embarked on a decade-long transformation aided by the CIA. The results are now visible across the war.
forbes.com
“The longer the war in Ukraine continues, the more dependent Russia becomes on China economically, technologically and strategically.” @kirichenko.bsky.social thehill.com/opinion/nati...
Putin wanted an empire — instead, he became China’s vassal
Putin may ultimately be remembered as the man who exhausted Russia in Ukraine while surrendering much of his country’s strategic independence to China.
thehill.com
On the special relationship between Ukraine and the Nordics, by @kirichenko.bsky.social w a comment from me: "In resisting Russia’s invasion, Ukrainians have rejected the Russian governance model defined by repression and lawlessness. Instead,.. nationalinterest.org/feature/how-...
How Russia’s Invasion Is Pulling Ukraine Northward
The nations of Scandinavia have proved to be some of Ukraine’s most steadfast supporters in Europe.
nationalinterest.org
Russia's Threadbare Air Defenses | "For a country that has built its foreign policy on the notion of encirclement, Russia is surprisingly bad at defending itself." @kirichenko.bsky.social
Russia’s Threadbare Air Defenses
Despite Russia building its foreign policy on the notion of encirclement, it is a country that is bad at defending against drone attacks.
cepa.org
Naast aanvallen op vrachtwagens en andere logistiek leggen Oekraïense drones nu ook mijnen op snelwegen in bezet 🇺🇦 gebied. Doel is niet langer alleen het vernietigen van individuele voertuigen, maar het verstoren van de aanvoer van voorraden naar het front, schrijft @kirichenko.bsky.social.
Why Ukraine Is Mining Russian Supply Routes With Drones
Russian sources say Ukraine is now mining roads in the land corridor to Crimea with drones.
forbes.com
But that also means Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s illegitimate president (often described as Europe’s “last dictator”), is progressively running out of wiggle room. @kirichenko.bsky.social nationalinterest.org/feature/will...
Will Belarus Join Russia in the Ukraine War?
Despite close relations with Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is wary about joining the war in Ukraine.
nationalinterest.org
Russia's Land Bridge Becomes a Highway to Hell | "The Kremlin’s supply lines in occupied Ukraine are being hammered, the result of Kyiv’s current superiority in drone technology." @kirichenko.bsky.social https://cepa.org/article/russias-land-bridge-becomes-a-highway-to-hell/
Russia’s Land Bridge Becomes a Highway to Hell
The Kremlin’s supply lines in occupied Ukraine are being hammered, the result of Kyiv’s current superiority in drone technology.
cepa.org
"Voor Rusland zijn de gevolgen grimmig: de landverbinding naar de Krim verandert in een steeds gevaarlijker gebied voor militaire logistiek. Voertuigen branden langs de snelweg Donetsk-Marioepol, die zwaar onder vuur wordt genomen tijdens de campagne." Door @kirichenko.bsky.social
Russia’s Land Bridge Becomes a Highway to Hell
The Kremlin’s supply lines in occupied Ukraine are being hammered, the result of Kyiv’s current superiority in drone technology.
cepa.org
Russia’s land bridge in occupied Ukraine: Welcome to the highway to hell, courtesy of Ukrainian drones. My report for the Center for European Policy Analysis. cepa.org/article/russ...
Russia’s Land Bridge Becomes a Highway to Hell
The Kremlin’s supply lines in occupied Ukraine are being hammered, the result of Kyiv’s current superiority in drone technology.
cepa.org
“Ukraine's drone war is moving deeper into Russia's rear, and the land bridge to Crimea is becoming a dangerous place to drive.” @kirichenko.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/davidk...
Ukrainian AI Drones Are Tearing Into Russian Logistics
AI-enabled drones are disrupting Russian supply routes linking occupied southern Ukraine with Crimea.
forbes.com
floating platforms able to release first-person-view drones, fire thermobaric rockets and strike targets along the coast." @kirichenko.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/davidk...
Ukraine’s Drone Boats Are Now Launching FPVs And Thermobaric Rockets
Floating drone carriers armed with FPVs and thermobaric rockets may give Kyiv a new way to strike Russian positions from the Dnipro River to the Black Sea.
forbes.com
The kill zone that emerged as drones came to dominate the battlefield was initially around 5 to 10 km in depth, but it has continued to expand." @kirichenko.bsky.social www.aspistrategist.org.au/beyond-the-f...
Beyond the front line: Ukraine is deepening its drone wall | The Strategist
Long-range Ukrainian strikes have dominated recent headlines, and for good reason: they are causing lasting damage. In April, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said strikes on Russian m...
aspistrategist.org.au
My report for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, expanding on my series about Ukraine’s drone wall. The layers continue to deepen beyond the initial kill zone. www.aspistrategist.org.au/beyond-the-f...
Beyond the front line: Ukraine is deepening its drone wall | The Strategist
Long-range Ukrainian strikes have dominated recent headlines, and for good reason: they are causing lasting damage. In April, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said strikes on Russian m...
aspistrategist.org.au
My piece for the Atlantic Council www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrain...
From Moscow to Crimea, Ukraine is winning the drone war against Russia
As Russia’s full-scale invasion enters a fifth summer, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the tide in the drone war has turned in Ukraine’s favor, writes David Kirichenko.
atlanticcouncil.org
My piece for the conservative outlet The American Spectator, co-written with Professor Motyl spectator.org/while-washin...
While Washington Looks Elsewhere, Ukraine Finds Leverage – The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
For much of Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war, the conventional wisdom was that Ukraine couldn’t possibly defeat mighty Russia. That wisdom is changing. Volodymyr Zelensky, once accused of having no card...
spectator.org
Putin thought Ukraine would quickly fold under a massively superior Russian onslaught. Instead, the War has seen Ukraine reinventing itself as a world expert in drone warfare. @ozkaterji.bsky.social and @kirichenko.bsky.social discuss how Ukraine reinvented warfare ➡️ linktr.ee/drillpod
"For Ukraine, that means not simply mobilizing enough people to hold the line, but building an army capable of sustaining a long war without exhausting the society behind it." @kirichenko.bsky.social www.indavemedia.com/ukraine-s-ar...
Ukraine’s Army Reforms Aim to Fix Its Biggest Vulnerability
More than four years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officials say Kyiv has one challenge that outpaces all others
indavemedia.com
