Ukrainian Interceptor Drones, Soldiers Sent To Protect US Bases In Jordan

Within a day of requested help being received, Ukrainian interceptor drones and teams to help use them as well as train US troops had been sent to Jordan to protect US bases there. 

The White House has refused to answer questions about the request for Ukrainian assistance, most likely because they consider it embarrassing to have to have made the request, which undermines Pentagon claims of dominance in its Iran attack. Ukraine is hoping this support will result in further support from the US administration, though given past exchanges, it would not be a surprise if the White House claimed it was 'owed' this support in return for past US aid given to Ukraine. But with widespread reports of Russia providing targeting support for Iranian drones and missiles, Ukraine's assistance to the US is a prudent move. JL

Iryna Balachuk reports in Ukraine Pravda:

Ukraine has sent interceptor drones and a team of drone specialists to help protect US military bases in Jordan. No other countries have more experience in countering Iranian drones than Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said the US had requested assistance on 5 March. The Ukrainian team left the following day. "We reacted immediately. I said, yes, of course, we will send our experts." The White House has not responded to questions about whether the US had formally asked Ukraine for help.

Ukraine's 2026 Gains Support Tech-Heavy, Human-Light Strategy

As Ukrainian forces continue to achieve unexpected territorial gains while significantly increasing Russian casualties, they are feeling vindicated by their strategy of investing more in technology, especially drones, in order to preserve the lives of their soldiers. 

Given the disparity between Ukraine's population versus Russia's, this was a pragmatic decision which has now yielded long term benefits for the country by obviating the need to recruit more of their young and middle aged who are needed for its economic stability and future growth. They are, meanwhile, inflicting increasingly unsustainable casualties on the Russians at a time when even that large nation is beginning to feel the loss of so many working age men. JL

Phillips O'Brien reports in his substack and Kateryna Denisova reports in the Kyiv Independent:

In historical terms, Russian advances, which have been hailed by some in the press as an inexorable march to victory and in the analytical community as a sign that Ukraine was on the verge of collapse, have been historically tiny and achieved at great cost. Ukraine's military forces have stopped Russia's advance toward the city of Zaporizhzhia as part of a three-month operation in the country's south while Ukraine actually liberated more land than the Russians seized. (And they did so) while starting to feel vindicated in their strategy of reducing their soldiers on the front line while using machines (mostly drones) to inflict what they (believe) will be unsustainable casualties on Russian forces.

"All the Cards?" Why Russia Has Achieved So Little In Ukraine

As spring begins to sprout in Ukraine after a long, difficult winter, Ukrainian forces are on the march. Yes, you read that right. Ukrainian forces, not Russian, are advancing in the country's southern battle zone as its troops have effectively thwarted Russian advances in Pokrovsk and the Kremlin finds itself short of money and new troops. The usual doom-laden warnings of imminent Ukrainian collapse and 'inevitable' Russian victory are strangely absent from the usual dismissive sources. Even the chronically Ukraine-skeptical New York Times is running op-ed pieces, like the one below, critical of Putin's chances!

And despite Putin's maximalist demands for Kyiv's surrender - seconded by his admirers in the White House - he can have no confidence, four years on, that his operationally incompetent army, air force and navy are capable of delivering even modest gains, let alone his downwardly revised military and political objectives. The reality is that Ukraine's military has gotten smarter and stronger, while the Russians continue to flounder, having achieved little at great cost in men and materiel. And that is unlikely to change, even with temporarily rising oil prices, thanks to Russia's weak economy, technological deficiencies and organizational confusion and corruption. Russian dreams of victory have evaporated thanks to Putin's poor decision-making and inadequate strategic capabilities. JL

Lawrence Freedman comments in the New York Times:

A Russian victory in Ukraine remains elusive. Its territorial gains are modest, it controls no regional capitals, is unable to exploit any breakthroughs. These meager results have cost of 1.2 million Russian casualties. If Russia has 'all the cards,' why has it achieved so little? Its progress been frustrated by its own operational weaknesses as well as a much smaller army’s resilience and innovative tactics. Neither Putin’s military objectives nor his political ones have been met. Ukraine has the strongest, largest, most battle-hardened army in Europe. NATO has expanded to include Sweden and Finland, as Germany is again a military power. While Russia has been bogged down in Ukraine, it has become dependent on China and unable to help its Syrian, Venezuelan, Cuban and Iranian clients. However hard Russia tries, it cannot subjugate Ukraine. 

Anthropic's Defiant Stance Appears To Be Paying Off - And Hurting OpenAI

In the annals of achieving the opposite result for an intended consequence, there are few that surpass the US Secretary of Defense's decision to label Anthropic's AI 'a supply chain risk.' 

Since that announcement by Secretary Hegseth, Anthropic's Claude has climbed to - and maintained - the lead ranking for AI downloads, while primary competitor and new Pentagon supplicant OpenAI has suffered a 295% increase in uninstalls and a 50% drop in five star reviews. And, because of the short time between the Pentagon declaration and the start of the administration's attack on Iran, reports indicate that Anthropic's model has been crucial to a range of US military decisions, including targeting and prioritization of actions - despite its ostensible banning. Since the Pentagon is considered almost certain to lose its case in court for declaring supply chain risk, this will ultimately have been meaningless performative posturing by the administration, though it has certainly benefited Anthropic despite having achieved the White House's diametrically opposed outcome. Inquiring minds want to know if the Silicon Valley hype machine is taking note and will now request Pentagon banning for all new products as a means of stimulating sales... JL

Ken Harbaugh reports in The Atlantic:

Anthropic's principled confrontation with DOD is paying off. The day after Hegseth announced the government was severing ties, Claude took the No. 1 spot as downloaded free app, a position it still holds, topping 1 million a day. It “has broken its sign-up record every day since, across every country where Claude is available.” Users are abandoning OpenAI: uninstalls of ChatGP, spiked 295% February 28, as OpenAI’s deal with the Pentagon emerged. One-star reviews surged 800%, five-star reviews fell by half. Hegseth’s decision to label Anthropic a supply-chain risk will likely be overturned in court. The U.S. government has never applied the label to a US company or used in retaliation for decline of contract terms. In the standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon, a company was forced to hold the line against its government. In doing so, Anthropic earned something more valuable than the contract it lost in an industry where trust is the scarcest resource.

Russian Marines Slaughtered Trying To Stop Ukraine Huliaipole Attacks

Recently redeployed Russian naval infantry sent from Pokrovsk to the Huliaipole sector were slaughtered in what appears to have been a vain attempt to stop Ukraine's ongoing counterattacks there. 

Despite the 'elite's designation enjoyed by Russian marines and air assault forces, they do not appear to have been any more successful than their less exalted comrades have been in that area of the front. JL

 
Dmytro Shumlianskyi reports in Militarnyi:

Russian marines from the newly deployed 40th Naval Infantry Brigade launched an unsuccessful mechanized assault on Ukrainian positions in the Huliaipole sector. A Russian tank, an armored fighting vehicle, and two quad bikes carrying troops were advancing along the Malynivka–Zelenyi Hai–Huliaipole route. Operators of the 414th Birds of Magyar Unmanned Systems Brigade detected and destroyed them. Surviving troops who tried to hide in residential buildings were eliminated. Shortly before this assault, the Russian command redeployed several brigades from the Donetsk region to the Huliaipole area in the Zaporizhzhia region. This was a response to a series of counterattacks by the Ukrainian forces.

US and Gulf Allies Rush To Buy, Deploy Ukraine Anti-Drone Systems Vs Iran Attacks

As the US and its Middle Eastern allies find themselves in more of a fight than they bargained for against Iran, they are now rushing to buy and deploy Ukrainian anti-drone systems - as well as Ukrainian trainers to show them how to use the systems optimally (why they were delusional enough to believe that Iran was going to be as easy as Venezuela is a story for another day).

The Ukrainian systems, especially the AI-powered Merops anti-drone unit, has been particularly effective against Iranian Shaheds. And the contrast between Ukraine helping the US while Russia provides Iran with targeting information on US bases has been lost on no one - outside the White House, that is. JL

Michael Gordon and colleagues report in the Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. Army is rushing to the Middle East counterdrone systems that have been battle-tested in Ukraine in an effort to thwart Tehran’s attacks across the region. Gulf states targeted by Iranian drones and missiles have traveled to meet with the Ukrainians and learn from their experience. “Everyone’s phone is ringing. Calls from Oman, Dubai, Qatar, U.A.E.” Ukraine's Merops counterdrone is small enough to be launched from a pickup truck. It can autonomously seek an incoming drone using radio waves, radar or the target’s heat signature. A mile from its target, it uses AI to lock onto the target and detonate nearby. It can travel at 180 miles an hour and reach an altitude of 16,000 feet. “The Shahed isn’t a simple target. Ukrainian forces learned how to intercept them effectively through hard experience, but that took time.”

Russia's Winter Bombardment Campaign of Ukraine Has Failed

Spring is beginning to arrive in Ukraine. The worst of the winter weather is over. And with it, the worst of Russia's attempt to freeze Ukrainians into submission has failed, like so many of its other military attempts.

Through a combination of heroic energy repair efforts despite Russian attacks on civilian energy workers, additional electrical power provided by Poland and Romania, as well as thousands of portable generators - many provided by Norway, Japan and other countries - the Ukrainians have largely restored their power grid and have again defeated Putin's efforts to defeat them. JL

Stefan Korshak reports in the Kyiv Post:

The Russian bid to defeat Ukraine by destroying power grid and heating infrastructure in the middle of winter and forcing Ukrainians to suffer sub-zero temperatures in unheated homes has failed. At the height of the Russian bombardment, in early February, Ukrainian power generation had fallen to 23% of normal. Blackouts and electricity rationing imposed nationwide left consumers with the lights off 8-12 hours a day. In the worst-hit cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, some were without power for 24-36 hours. Yet, in a little more than two weeks, Ukrainian generation capacity had rebounded to 73% of normal. The heroes were field maintenance teams: dispatchers, truck drivers, crane operators and supply chain managers repairing power line breaks and damaged equipment. Poland Romania surged power to Ukraine and other countries sent portable generators which provided 25% of electricity.