Rob Lee is back in Kyiv after another round of frontline visits — from Zaporizhzhia to Donetsk to Kharkiv — talking directly with frontline commanders and the R&D teams building the war's newest capabilities. In this episode Sam Cook stands in for Dmytro Putiata and interviews Rob on what's actually changed as of early June 2026.

The headline shift: deep strike is no longer Russia's game. Ukraine is now hitting at operational depth too — with cheap, scalable drones, corps-level strike assets like Hornets, and a brigade-to-corps reform that's giving commanders real ownership of their battlespace. Rob walks through where the front is genuinely different from a year ago, where it's still grinding (Kostiantynivka, the Kramatorsk–Sloviansk line), and why he wouldn't be surprised to see successful Ukrainian armor assaults this year.

A granular, on-the-ground read from the analyst with the access to get it.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro — who Rob is and this June trip

04:58 The front as of early June 2026

06:03 Why map movements mislead — reading the front

08:19 What he saw: Zaporizhzhia to Donetsk to Kharkiv

09:00 Is Russia slowing? Manpower and priorities

11:43 Corps get Hornets — striking deeper behind the line

12:51 Brigade-to-corps reform: commanders own the battlespace

15:03 Dobropillia: redeployments and Rubicon

15:55 The cheap-drone revolution — $4,000 recon, Mavic + Starlink

18:00 Counter-Shahed and the interceptor problem

20:31 Starlink on UGVs — why it's indispensable

21:52 Europe and the US stepping up production

24:46 Corps UAS regiments and reduced vulnerability

26:15 Where it's still hard: Kostiantynivka

26:47 Kramatorsk–Sloviansk and the high-ground threat

32:23 UGVs: the gas-powered casevac "mule"

33:07 Only 20% of the UGVs they need

33:48 AI targeting and camera-guided turrets

35:26 A WWI analogy for this moment

36:06 Why Ukrainian armor assaults may return (Zabrodsky callback)

37:31 Operational depth: where Ukraine now has the edge

38:21 FP-2s and the middle-strike payload gap

39:55 1,000+ drones a night — the deep-strike picture

40:34 Deep strike is no longer Russia's game

41:23 Putin doubling down, and why the war turned

42:45 Drones = 80%+ of casualties now

43:33 Recap of the trends

46:40 Wrap-up

Rob Lee is a senior fellow at FPRI and a former US Marine. Host Samuel Cook is the founder of the Ukraine Military History Institute and a former US Army officer who taught Russian history at West Point.

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#Ukraine #UkraineWar #RobLee #DroneWarfare #MilitaryAnalysis

In this second installment of *The First Draft of History*, analysts Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata pick up where they left off to tackle one of the most defining features of the current war in Ukraine: the kill zone. Once just a couple kilometers deep, this lethal band of contested airspace and ground has expanded dramatically—now stretching 15, 20, or more kilometers along the front lines. Rob and Dmytro break down what the kill zone actually means in practice, how drones have transformed it, and why both Russia and Ukraine are scrambling to adapt to this rapidly evolving battlefield reality.

The conversation digs into the tactical and structural shifts reshaping the fight, from drones serving as force multipliers to the emerging cat-and-mouse dynamic of "hunting the hunters." The hosts explore the growing importance of deep strike and middle strike capabilities, the targeting of Russia's rear systems, and the persistent challenge of thin, overstretched lines that conceal hidden vulnerabilities on both sides.

A centerpiece of the episode is a hard look back at the Dobropillia breakthrough—August's deepest scare for Ukraine—where Russian infiltration tested the defense in alarming ways. Rob and Dmytro examine how Ukraine responded, the costly toll the operation took on Russian forces, and the broader lessons learned, including the dangers of "lying upward" through the chain of command and the ever-present manpower equation.

Looking ahead, the discussion weighs the ongoing debate between brigade and division structures, the question of brigade autonomy, and what all these adaptations mean for a possible return to maneuver warfare. Filmed in Kyiv as of May 2026 by two analysts who regularly visit the front lines, this episode offers a clear-eyed, ground-level assessment of where the war stands—and why 2026 may be looking better for Ukraine than many expected. Be sure to catch part one for the full picture.

Timestamps:

0:00–The Kill Zone Defined

4:45–Concept Without Implementation

9:14–Fifteen Kilometers and Growing

14:11–Drones as Force Multipliers

17:44–Hunting the Hunters

24:46–Dobropillia: August's Deepest Scare

28:30–Russia's Costly Infiltration

32:08–The Cost of Lying Upward

37:34–The Manpower Equation

42:43–Brigades Versus Divisions

47:26–Deep Strike and Middle Strike

52:16–Striking the Rear Systems

57:19–Thin Lines, Hidden Weaknesses

1:01:46–Toward Maneuver Once Again

This episode began with a question from a Ukrainian brigade: how can military history help us fight better right now?

Samuel Cook sits down with Lieutenant General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, Hero of Ukraine, to answer it.

They explore military history as a tool for creative thinking under fire, why Blitzkrieg was "a product, not a process," how mission command and decisions made at the right level produce battlefield results, and how the drone became a primary weapon at platoon level — only the beginning, in Zabrodskyi's words.

In this episode:

• A brigade's question: history as a warfighting tool- Blitzkrieg as a product of 25 years of doctrine
• Mission command and decision-making at the right level
• The drone as a platoon-level primary weapon

🎧 Listen & subscribe: 'All episodes: https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.org/▶ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineMilitaryHistory📩 Two Marines (Rob & Dmytro): https://ukrainemilitaryhistory.s.gy/wt9OCKCreated by the Borderlands Foundation.#Ukraine #UkraineWar #DroneWarfare #MilitaryHistory #RobLee #Zabrodskiy