20
FEB
2026
A NATO maneuver from May 2025 is considered to trigger the decision to bring Ukrainian soldiers to Germany as instructors. Around 16,000 soldiers from twelve NATO countries were involved in the "Hedgehog 2025" war exercise. As part of the maneuver, a unit of almost a dozen specially arrived Ukrainian drone specialists, some of whom had active front-line experience, attacked NATO troops. The result was shocking for them. Within just half a day, the Ukrainian soldiers managed to destroy 17 armored vehicles and carry out 30 more attacks on other targets. They were able to rely on battlefield data obtained in real time, on their evaluation with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and on an AI-based target selection. This allows, as stated last week in a report by the Wall Street Journal, a lightning-fast approach; there is talk of a rapid "kill chain": "See it, share it, shoot it". 1] In another exercise part, it was possible to make two complete NATO battalions incapacitated in just one day, a maneuver participant is quoted. NATO troops would not even have been a atttacking the Ukrainian units.
The Bundeswehr is now beginning to deal more comprehensively with such scenarios - almost four years after the start of the Ukraine war, which became a drone war quite early on. Currently, German paratroopers, as is reported, "training more intensively with drones for the first time". 2] In addition, it is planned to bring Ukrainian soldiers to Germany as instructors. As one of the central objectives is to make their knowledge and skills in drone warfare accessible to the Bundeswehr; this concerns both tactics for attacks and methods of defense. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj signed an agreement on this last Friday.[ 3] According to a spokesman for the German army, it is planned to "let the experiences of Ukrainian soldiers flow into the training in the army at the army's troop schools". German officers are quoted with the clear assessment that "no one in NATO" currently has a greater "war experience than Ukraine": "We have to use that". However, it turns out to be a serious obstacle that Kiev has massive problems recruiting soldiers and can therefore temporarily only send instructors to Germany for shorter periods of time.
Berlin also benefits from the production of Ukrainian drones in the Federal Republic. In October, the governments of Germany and Ukraine had signed a corresponding declaration of intent. In December, the German drone manufacturer Quantum Systems and the Ukrainian drone manufacturer Frontline Robotics founded the joint venture Quantum Frontline Industries (QFI), which manufactures the Frontline Robotics drone LINZA near Munich – and thus protected from Russian attacks. Production is also carried out at an industrial level: up to 10,000 units are to be produced per year. 4] Since the companies are constantly developing the drones in direct contact with the front, the German drone industry also remains up to date; in view of the rapid innovation cycles in high-tech warfare, this is a significant advantage over the competition. According to Pistorius, the drone production in Germany also offers German bodies the opportunity to learn "from the incredibly large amounts of data and the many experiences" "gathered on the battlefield in Ukraine". 5] Joint ventures for drone production have also founded other companies, such as Wingcopter (Germany) and TAF Industries (Ukraine).[ 6] In the long term, NATO countries are also to be supplied.
Last but not least, German authorities want to use Ukrainian war experiences to make their own civil authorities fit for war. Earlier this week, a delegation from the Ukrainian region of Kherson, led by Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, was in Kiel to report on their measures to protect the population and infrastructure in the war at a two-day security conference. Kiel and the city of Kherson have been in partnership since 2024; the Cherson region and the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein have been doing so since 2023. Kherson is "under constant fire", the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein informs: "There are dead, injured and repeated attacks on the energy infrastructure." As a result, the region has gained "extensive experience in recent years" in the areas of "resilience, civil defense and civil protection". 7] Specifically, this applies, as Prokudin was quoted, "to drone defense, evacuation of the population, first aid when hospitals no longer function, as well as to the question of how the military operates if the power goes out". 8] In Kiel, the delegation from Cherson had now transmitted "very concrete and valuable findings" on this, praised Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther.[ 9]
For example, Günther specified, it was learned that "how critical infrastructure is stabilized despite permanent attacks, how hospitals and shelters are moved underground, how schools and daycare centers continue to function, how mine clearance is organized and how administration is kept operational". 10] In Kherson there are now 14 underground hospitals and nine underground schools; six more underground schools are currently being built.[ 11] To protect against drone attacks, roads are covered with nets on a large scale. According to reports, representatives of the Kherson region should in the future "teach civil servants of Schleswig-Holstein the defensive struggle": "Courses by Ukrainians", it says, "soon there will be in Kiel for the police, the fire brigade, but also for other actors in the field of civil and disaster protection". 12] "Schleswig-Holstein is making progress here," says Prime Minister Günther; but that is not enough: "Germany still has a catch-up to do in terms of civil defense capability, civil protection and resilience."[ 13] If the need to catch up is met, then Germany is ready to enter a possible war.
[1] Jillian Kay Melchior: NATO Has Seen the Future and Is Unprepared. wsj.com 12.02.2026.
[2] Peter Carstens: Ukrainians taught NATO a bitter lesson in the maneuver. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/17/2026.
[3] Matthias Gebauer: War-experienced Ukrainians should train Bundeswehr soldiers. spiegel.de 16.02.2026.
[4] Peter Carstens: Ukrainians taught NATO a bitter lesson in the maneuver. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/17/2026.
[5] Lara Finke: Official handover of the first Ukrainian drone produced in Germany. bmvg.de 13.02.2026.
[6] Frank Specht, Nadine Schimroszik: How German companies produce drones for front-line use. handelsblatt.com 13.02.2026.
[7] Learn from Ukraine. schleswig-holstein.de 17.02.2026.
[8] "Not prepared at all". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 18.02.2026.
[9] Stefan Locke: Specialist for Civil Protection. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 02/19/206.
[10] Learn from Ukraine. schleswig-holstein.de 17.02.2026.
[11] Jennifer Bruhn: Protection, resilience and crisis aid: This is how SH wants to learn from Ukraine. ndr.de 02/17/2026.
[12] "Not prepared at all". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 18.02.2026.
[13] Learn from Ukraine. schleswig-holstein.de 17.02.2026.