“Two years ago we were two steps ahead of the Russians,” according to Oleksandr Yakovenko, the chief executive of one of Ukraine’s largest drone manufacturers. “But now we’re one step ahead of them.”
Last month, he recalled that Russian soldiers raced on motorcycles across Ukrainian territory, as it was impossible for Kiev’s troops to deploy enough drones to stop them all.
“The battlefield is not about new technology now,” Jacovenko told the Financial Times, his headquarters in Odesa’s Black Sea Port. “It’s about how you can adapt to new strategies.”
The ingenuity of Ukrainian drone startups has been a rare bright spot for its economy and the campaign to stop Russia’s progress. Over the past two years, the frontlines of Ukraine have been increasingly dominated by drones. Moscow also had devastating effects not only on the battlefield but also on cities, revolutionizing the use and delivery of drones.
Yakovenko, 35, founder of Taf Drones, is at the forefront of this revolution. This is because war leaps from its initial reliance on heavy artillery on this high-tech battle.
Launched from scratch in the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, his company created 350,000 drones last year out of a total of 2 million people made in Ukraine in 2024. It has signed contracts for the same amount as the Ukrainian government for the first six months of this year alone, hoping to expand production of the larger portion into Europe.
Oleksandr Yakovenko, Founder of Taf Drones © Charlie Bibby/ft
But Jacovenko is not celebrating. He spoke about the challenges and complexities of the drone war – from countering sophisticated Russian drone jamming systems to having to rethink the supply chain.
For the past three years, China has provided most thermal cameras, carbon frames and battery cells to its cheap first-person perspective drones, the footsoldier of the drone war. Yakovenko said it has spent $1.2 billion on Chinese components over the past 18 months, and in many cases it relies on third parties to avoid export control.
However, trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have intensified the impact of China’s clampdown introduced last September, and have been introduced into exports of key components, including thermal camera sensors. Ukrainian drone companies find it difficult to avoid restrictions.
“Even after the trade war, we still have a big problem,” Jacovenko said. “We have to delay orders in a month for crackdowns.” Only a handful of European companies produce such parts, and their products are far more expensive than Chinese parts.
Jakovenko has no illusions about the form-changing Russian threat either. “We tend to innovate first, but when we create something new, they immediately come up with a response.”
©Taf
One of the successes of recent Russian innovations is the use of fiber optic drones that cannot be interfered with, as they rely on cables for the width of human hair for communication, rather than radio signals.
Yakovenko said they are not a game changer as cable ranges are limited to 20km and often break temperatures below zero, but he expects an increase in use this summer this summer, when winter was manufactured in Shanghai, where winter is much warmer than Ukraine.
While the Ukrainian drone war is welcomed as foreseeing a new era of war, it is a revolution that Ukrainians claim that Western military is grateful. “It’s well understood in Ukraine, Russia and China, but not elsewhere,” Valerie Zarziny, former Ukraine chief and now the UK ambassador, told the Royal United Services Institute Conference last week in London.
Yakovenko and other drone manufacturers are currently begging Western military and businesses for insights and partnerships. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has seen high expectations in the sector to allow drones to be exported to Europe this year.
“We have a lot of good companies with very good technology and we want to make our products in Europe,” says Yakovenko. However, most European governments would rather invest in their companies. “Many foreigners use our wars for education. We understand that. It’s okay. They help us too.”
Yakovenko and other drone manufacturers are currently begging the military and businesses in the western region © Taf Drones/Instagram
Yakovenko wears a hoodie decorated with the words “Get”, “Hit” and “Repeat”, separated by images of three arrows surrounding the drone, tank and drone.
The former logistics company director embodies the resilience that Ukraine, which embodies the drone maker that has driven its drone maker, has demonstrated against its much stronger enemy. This is necessary if the war continues and withdraws American support for Kiev, as the Trump administration threatened.
Jacobenko’s headquarters is located in Odesa, which is regularly hit by Russian drones and missiles. Every two months, he moves through his production center for security.
On the morning of the full-scale Russian invasion, he wrote to his staff:
Almost everything stayed and helped him pivot from bringing supplies to the frontline from delivering goods. On one such trip in 2022, he saw soldiers modifying sports drones on the battlefield. It made his heart race. He founded a charity that brought hundreds of drones to the front line in a month.
He is then summoned to Kiev and sees Mikhailo Fedorov, the minister who oversees the drones. Fedorov recalls, “You start a charity and offer drones for free, but build a business. You need to be competitive.”
He said that one reason Western defense companies have been reluctant to invest in drone production is the relentless pace of change.
Today’s cult drones often become redundant within months as new models emerge. In 2023, the average distance of the impact-exploding Kamikaze drone was 5km, with a payload of about 1kg. “Now they can go 40km on a 3kg payload.”
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In 2025, he forecasts an increase in land drone use. “It’s the year of wheeled robots. They’re used to evacuate people from before.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence means that pilots of “first person view” (FPV) drones don’t need to be on the frontline anytime soon, instead can be in offices hundreds of miles away.
However, Ukraine still has an advantage over Russia in innovation, but he warned that Moscow has proven to be more efficient when it comes to production. “Russia will go in stages. If this continues for two years (like this), it is impossible for us to defend.”
