April 6, 2026: Last February Ukrainians realized that the four years of war with Russia was equal to the four years Russia, which Ukraine was then a part of, fought the Germans. For most of the war Ukraine was under German occupation. Because of that, after 1945 the Russians correctly suspected many Ukrainians of collaborating with the Germans and thousands of Ukrainians were hauled off to distant prison camps from which many did not return. With the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became an independent nation. Twenty three years later Ukraine was once again attacked by the Russians, who seized Crimea and portions of provinces in eastern Ukraine. In 2022 the situation deteriorated as Russia invaded Ukraine and no one knows how or when this war will end. Through it all, Ukrainian civilians felt trapped by constant threats and decreasing living standards. In 2025 Russia began attacking infrastructure, including power plants. That meant no heat or running water for civilians, who felt they were prisoners of an endless war that could and did always find a way to get worse.

It wasn’t always this way. The Ukraine War has seen the frequent involvement of civilians and civilian groups supporting the war effort. This was a factor from the beginning when civilians used their cell phones to capture pictures, with locations, of Russian military activity, especially air attacks using drones. The Ukrainian government quickly created an organization to receive all these civilian reports and provide civil or military authorities with useful information on a timely basis.

Ukraine was also welcoming when it came to weapons or other military related items developed by individuals or groups of civilians. This was quite different from the situation in Russia, where the government expects civilians to take orders, not make suggestions.

In contrast Ukrainian civilians, most of whom were born or came of age after the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became an independent country, turned to the west for inspiration on how to live, govern and run the economy. When the Russians invaded in 2022, many officers and soldiers were surprised that Ukrainians were no longer culturally related to Russia but had become more like western Europeans.

An example of this was seen in 2023 when Ukraine announced that it was going to spend over half a billion dollars on drones. What was not revealed was the extent of efforts to add more capabilities to commercial drones as well, and the growing number being manufactured by Ukrainian companies. These developers and manufacturers are often small groups of civilian hobbyists that proved capable of creating new features for drones, both commercial and hobbyist-produced models. The Russian invasion spurred a lot of innovation, mainly among Ukrainian developers. Among the items available to commercial customers were a lot of miniature digital video cameras as well as lighter, miniaturized computer components that could be assembled and programmed by users to perform essential tasks, like using AI apps and data from onboard video cameras enemy forces, even if they are camouflaged or in underground bunkers. Constant combat use of these systems enables developers to address shortcomings and continually improves the hardware and software carried on these hunter killer drones. Earlier in the war two drones were needed for this but now all that tech and weapons can be carried and used by one drone.

Wartime developers are able to improve their tech and hardware more rapidly because there is continuous feedback from users. Ukraine had an edge here because many of these developers were hobbyists who knew little about peacetime development, its bureaucracy and counter-productive over-supervision. Ukrainian developers were often creating these new drone techs for friends or family members who were now in the military and eager for whatever help they could get. The Ukrainian military saw this entrepreneurial spirit as an advantage, not some form of insubordination or recklessness. Russians consider the entrepreneurial activities as unauthorized innovations. Despite that, some Russian innovations appeared, but the Russian innovations take longer to arrive and implement.

Most Russian commanders and civilian officials are less willing than their Ukrainian counterparts to encourage individual initiatives. Another problem was that economic sanctions made it more difficult for Russians to obtain the commercial tech that Ukrainians used.

This free access to Western and Chinese components meant Ukraine could build very capable and lethal drones that were designed to carry out one or a small number of missions. That is why Ukraine and Russia are each losing thousands of drones a month. Cheap, useful and expendable is now the rule with most battlefield drones.

Russia is at a disadvantage when it comes to its drone losses because Ukrainian civilians are quick to report to their military any useful information they witness about Russian drones, and military practices in general. Russia tried to shut down Ukrainian access to communications with the Ukrainian military. Initially this was handled by cellphone, but the Russians gradually replaced Ukrainian cell towers with Russian ones wherever they could. Ukrainian civilians found other ways to communicate with the Ukrainian military. One of these alternatives was the widespread use of SpaceX Starlink internet terminals that turned a Ukrainian cellphone, desktop computer or tablet into a communications device that could get past Russian jamming and efforts to eliminate the ability of civilians to communicate with the Ukrainian military or government. Civilians continued to take cellphone photos or videos of Russian activities and transmit this information back to the Ukrainian military. This provided lots of useful target information on Russian forces and facilities.

Many civilian photos and videos showed up on social media, which the Ukrainian military monitors for useful information. Throughout history civilians have often been useful informants for the military. With the appearance of cellphones, the internet and Starlink, civilian contributions have become more numerous, accurate and useful.