Apparent Israeli-Ukrainian Cooperation is Paying Big Dividends for Both
Between June 1 and June 13, two drone strikes—one in Iran, one in Russia—told the same story in different languages. And that story goes like this: your enemy is not only inside your country but flying circles around your vaunted defenses, possibly from within your own backyard.
On June 13, Israel pulled off a daring attack on Iranian military and nuclear facilities. Not from Tel Aviv or an airbase in the Negev—but from inside Iran. It was precise, fast, and quiet until it wasn’t. Two weeks earlier, Ukraine launched its now-famous “Operation Spiderweb,” a swarm of drones that evaded Russian radar and struck deep in Moscow’s underbelly, taking out strategic bombers. Both operations were engineered to do more than damage. They embarrassed.
Now let’s get to the part that keeps Moscow up at night.
These weren’t your garden-variety kamikaze drones. They were guided, coordinated, and executed with a degree of technical audacity and brainpower. Both Russia and Iran likely assume America helped connect the dots. For both operations, the US might have furnished valuable satellite imagery and signal intelligence. No one is talking; but the fingerprints seemed shared.
But here’s the real kicker: whether or not the tactics were connected, they look as though they are.
Since 2022, Ukraine has been executing a “decapitation strategy”—taking out senior Russian officers using everything from drone strikes to targeted shelling. Meanwhile, Israel has shown its own knack for finding people who don’t want to be found. The June 13 operation targeted high-ranking individuals, and if history is any guide, the phones in their pockets might have been the weak link. You can swap out the language, uniforms, and terrain—but the playbook seems to rhyme.
That’s because Israel and Ukraine have something in common: they’re both outnumbered, outgunned, and running circles around their enemies using the one resource that’s hard to embargo—innovation. Both countries are quickly becoming R&D labs for 21st-century warfare. Their drones aren’t off-the-shelf drones nor are they like the costly over-engineered MQ-9 Reapers the Pentagon buys. They’re platforms are designed to operate from inside enemy territory, built with quiet propulsion, encrypted comms, and adaptive targeting systems.
There’s chatter about the Israeli and Ukrainian defense tech teams working in parallel—sometimes unofficially, sometimes not. Close your eyes, and you can picture the ease of the cooperation between former Soviet scientists in Israel and former Soviet scientists in Ukraine. Remarkably, once upon a time, some may even have been classmates at Moscow State University. And from the look of things, it’s cooperation that is paying off for both countries. Payback can be a bitch.
What does that mean for Vladimir Putin?
From his first days as a KGB cadet, it was drummed into him that there are no such things as coincidences. The Israeli strikes on the Iranian high command suggest more of the same from the Ukrainians. And as if to drive this exact point home forcefully, just this past week, the Russian Navy’s Number 2, Mikhail Gudkov, was killed by a Ukrainian missile strike. [i]
For starters, Putin might want to stop keeping his generals’ schedules in group chats. The rules have changed. The front line isn’t always a line anymore—it’s a device, a network, a data packet. You don’t need to own the airspace if you already own the signal. It’s too early to call this a new doctrine, but one thing is clear: the age of long-range brute force warfare has given way to something leaner, smarter, and more invasive. When your enemies can operate from inside your borders without tipping you off, you’ve got more than a border problem—you’ve got a systems failure.
And for all the breathless reporting about American decline, here’s a quiet counterpoint: the West’s military advantage may no longer be about aircraft carriers or fighter jets costing $150 million each. It may be about enabling the right allies with the right tools at the right time—and letting them make your rivals paranoid, for free.[ii]
So yes, Mr. Putin—step away from your phone. And ask yourself, how secure will Sochi be this year from the Ukrainians?
[i] Major Gen. Mikhail Gudkov, the deputy commander of Russia’s Navy
https://www.foxnews.com/world/top-russia-navy-commander-killed-region-bordering-ukraine; Unconfirmed reports also claim that Vice Admiral Ildar Fernandovich Akhmerov, who headed the Black Sea Fleet of Russia was killed in the past week, https://112.ua/en/gur-likviduvav-komanduvaca-cornomorskogo-flotu-rf-dzerela-67962
[ii] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/chinas-ability-to-buy-us-land-near-military-bases-just-got-more-restricted/ https://nypost.com/2024/06/20/us-news/chinese-owned-farmland-next-to-19-us-military-bases/
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