Drone Warfare in Ukraine with Simon Shuster

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Nov 20, 2025

Simon Shuster, a seasoned journalist with over 15 years covering Russia and Ukraine, shares fascinating insights into drone warfare and its impact on modern conflict. He discusses the evolution of the Ukraine war into a technology-driven battlefield, including the innovative use of commercial drones and AI-assisted targeting. Shuster highlights the gamification of drone combat, where scores influence drone operations, and explores the ethical implications of this new kind of warfare. His reflections shed light on the rapid advancements reshaping global military strategies.

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INSIGHT

Civilian Drones Repurposed For Combat

Most hardware innovations come from off-the-shelf components and civilian drones repurposed for war.
Agriculture and hobby drones were adapted to carry explosives or other payloads quickly and cheaply.

INSIGHT

Gamified Rewards Accelerated Adoption

Ukraine gamified drone strikes with a points system to reward confirmed kills and allocate equipment.
The system boosted morale, documented effectiveness, and created celebrity drone units.

INSIGHT

Leaderboard Creates Rapid Feedback Loops

The points marketplace created rapid feedback loops for what tech works on the front.
Top teams shared tactics, accelerating learning across units.

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Simon Shuster is a journalist who has reported on Russia and Ukraine for over 15 years, most of that time as a staff correspondent for TIME Magazine. He was born in Moscow, and he and his family came to the United States as refugees from the Soviet Union when he was six years old.

After graduating from Stanford University in 2005, Simon returned to Moscow to work as a reporter for The Moscow Times, Reuters, the Associated Press and other publications. His political coverage of Russia’s descent into authoritarianism included numerous profiles of Vladimir Putin and interviews with top Russian officials. He has also interviewed and profiled the last three presidents of Ukraine.

Simon has spent years covering the war in Ukraine from both sides of the front lines. The year after the annexation of Crimea, Russian authorities deemed Simon a security threat and banned him from entering the country.

Simon is the author of the 2024 book The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky, and he recently wrote the TIME Magazine article “How Ukraine Gamified Drone Warfare.”

He is currently at work on a new book that examines the future of warfare and how the lessons and technologies that emerged from the war in Ukraine are changing warfare and security around the world.

Simon joins the podcast with Kevin Ball to discuss drone warfare, AI-assisted targeting, the gamification of drone combat, the rapid iteration cycle of drone innovation, new ethical dilemmas in warfare, the coming proliferation of war drones, and the shifting balance of global power.

Kevin Ball or KBall, is the vice president of engineering at Mento and an independent coach for engineers and engineering leaders. He co-founded and served as CTO for two companies, founded the San Diego JavaScript meetup, and organizes the AI inaction discussion group through Latent Space.

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