Ukraine Has Cards
March 19, 2026
On February 28, 2025, Donald Trump infamously told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office that he “had no cards”. But that wasn’t true then, and certainly isn’t true now. A year later, on March 8, Zelensky delivered a speech to the British Parliament that included a PowerPoint presentation describing his country’s incredible technology, military superiority, and potential. He was a political version of the chairman of a highly successful and growing multinational corporation, pitching for business and selling its wares. He outlined to the British a track record of breathtaking innovations and is busily signing up “customers” around the world who want its technology. Ukraine’s brilliance is no accident because the country was the Silicon Valley of the former Soviet Union. After it left Moscow, its impressive technology sector continued to grow. So it was hardly surprising that after the 2022 invasion by Russia, Ukraine was able to create software solutions to stave off Russia’s military, the world’s second-largest, with a vast pool of manpower. Ukraine is now the world’s “drone and digital superpower”.
Essentially, Ukraine is the world’s first nation-state to become a hyper-scaler, a tech term applied to Amazon, Google, and Meta because they provide cloud service, computing, and storage at “enterprise scale” and employ armies of tech experts. Zelensky and his team accomplished this because Ukraine’s tech sector is large and because, even though he is a lawyer and entertainer, his father is a famous computer scientist and his mother an engineer. He understands the importance of technology and science.
In fact, Ukraine is a brainy country and was ahead of the curve in technological capability during the Soviet Era. After it declared independence in 1991, it retained an educational system that emphasized “hard sciences and maths,” and its tech sector expanded. In 2019, Ukraine’s first truly fair elections took place, and Zelensky won by a landslide on a platform of fighting corruption, Russian influences, and rebuilding a military that had been degraded by Moscow. That year, he created the world’s first Ministry of Digital Transformation, which was run by expert Mykhailo Federov. For years, the focus has been on digitizing government services and integrating AI and drones into the Ukrainian military. As a result, Ukraine has staved off Russia but also reinvented warfare. In 2026, Federov became Minister of Defence.
After the invasion in February 2022, Zelensky went on the road to raise tens of billions to stop Russia, keep the country operating, obtain weapons and ammo, and grow its military. He was uniquely suited for this because he is a professional entertainer and knows how to perform and communicate in front of large audiences and the media. His global marketing campaign to countries all over the world, in person or by Zoom, raised billions to fight off the Russians. He was surrounded by his “writing room” of wits and writers from former television days, and as a result, the messaging was clever, aimed at the audience, and Churchillian. Most famous was his rejection of an offer to evacuate after Russians invaded when he said, “I don’t want a ride, I want ammo”.
Trump is also an entertainer as well as a businessman, but he has been tough on Zelensky and on Ukraine, hectoring them to surrender and handing off weapons costs to the Europeans. But during the 2024 Presidential campaign, even Trump had to concede that Zelensky had a special talent for promotion and fundraising. “Every time Zelensky comes to the United States, he walks away with $100 billion. I think he’s the greatest salesman on Earth,” said Trump.
He’s right, but Zelensky is also a great CEO and self-made businessman who built a successful media company before entering politics. And now Ukraine has one of the world’s most impressive military industrial sectors, and is being pestered by nations around the world – including the U.S. -- to design and produce its state-of-the-art weapons and systems for their armies. This week, Ukraine and the United Kingdom signed a multi-billion-dollar defense deal; many others are in the works, and a Texas company called Swarmer, which markets Ukrainian drone technology, was listed this week on NASDAQ and immediately soared in value to $500 million. More Ukrainian startups are in the pipeline for public listings. The Iranian War has made Ukraine’s services more marketable. The Saudis are negotiating a “gigantic deal” for drones and tech with Ukraine, as are others in the Middle East, Asia, and around the world.
Zelensky is a clever businessman and recently swapped Ukrainian drone technology in return for used Israeli Patriot missiles and other air defence systems with Benjamin Netanyahu, who disgustingly spurned Zelensky’s 2022 request for Iron Dome technology to impede Russia’s bombing of its civilians and cities. The Israeli leader’s rejection was disgraceful, and done because Netanyahu considered Putin a pal, and because he is electorally supported in Israel by its sizeable, hard-line Russian minority who left the Soviet Union for Israel in several waves during the 1970s and 1980s.
However, Ukraine is now the world’s center of excellence for digital warfare and military software solutions. Up to 400,000 Ukrainians are directly involved in its defense industry’s tech ecosystem. If you include military operators and users, the tech ecosystem includes several hundred thousand more Ukrainians. Demand is huge, and Ukraine will open ten weapons export centers in Europe in 2026 as the continent militarizes. Japan is also negotiating a deal, and hundreds of Ukrainians are now in the Middle East helping counter Iranian drone attacks with interceptor drones and other technology systems. As of early 2026, these deals involve partnerships with the UK, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, and the United States, alongside initiatives targeting Middle Eastern countries. To Trump, Zelensky said: “We could build the world’s biggest drone factory. The United States would provide production and financing. Ukraine would provide the technology and experience. We can use it to defend American soldiers on bases anywhere.”
Ukraine can produce up to 200,000 drones per month. This year, Kyiv will receive $38 billion in military aid for its own war, but it also has a line-up of financing from customers to make more weapons. All this and more was contained in Zelensky’s speech to British parliamentarians. He also emphasized that Ukraine’s systems provide long-range strikes from land or sea. “Ukraine didn’t have a strong navy like Britain, but we have pushed what’s left of Russia’s fleet to a distant place. This is the new reality. There is no way a navy can counter our naval drones. We won our sea. Our simple drones can shoot down helicopters, boats that carry other drones, strike from land, and operate in ocean conditions.”
Embarrassingly, Trump’s Pentagon turned down Ukrainians seven months ago after they gave the same pitch to its defense “experts” to buy their battle-proven technology. Even more embarrassingly, Axios obtained a copy of their PowerPoint, which described how Ukrainian tech was distinctly capable of shooting down Iranian-made attack drones because they had been used by Russia. The PowerPoint also described in detail how their drones and unique “kill zones” systems could protect American forces and their Gulf allies in the Middle East war before it happened.
In recent days, after the story broke, the Trump administration was further embarrassed because Ukraine offered the first low-cost “interceptor drones” that detect, pursue, and destroy hostile drones or loitering munitions. These drones act as digital sentries that provide an active defense “layer” that neutralizes threats at high speeds. They also guard designated “kill zones”. They could have guarded the Hormuz Strait to keep it open.
Zelensky’s landmark speech in Britain was also a global manifesto and offered a strategy to defeat Russia, Iran, or the world’s other horrible marauders. Zelensky also debunked claims by Russia that Ukraine is losing its war, and emphasized that Ukraine’s “kill zones” have stopped Moscow’s onslaught and caused 1.3 million casualties. “We can track, verify, collect data, analyze it, and deploy drones against targets on the battlefield. Russia has lost 92,000 troops this winter. In the past 30 days, we have regained more territory than Russia has taken since 2026 began.”
He added the fact that “we didn’t become technically superior by chance. It’s the result of four years of full-scale war. It’s the result of our system and hard work. Battlefield, air, and sea success is because we came up with smart, system-based solutions. Russia kills and maims, as do the Ayatollahs. We fought with fewer resources than Russia. We want to build defensive forces with allies and grow this strength.” Essentially, its battle against Russia will go down in history as the R & D “test” that turned Ukraine into a tech powerhouse.
Unfortunately, Trump’s Iranian War has put peace talks over Ukraine on hold. And he still does not apply pressure on Vladimir Putin (Iran’s ally) to stop his assault on Ukraine, and keeps bashing Zelensky. “Zelensky has to get on the ball, and he has to get a deal done…,” said Trump. “I think Putin is ready to make a deal. You [Zelensky] don’t have the cards. Now he’s [Putin’s] got even fewer cards.”
As usual, however, Trump is wrong. The facts are that Russia has no cards, and Ukraine’s technological superiority is equivalent to a full deck and then some. If Trump were a great CEO and strategist, he would have pushed Putin into bankruptcy, stopping Russia, Iran, and their proxies from staging terrorism and wars all over the place. If he had realized what Ukraine has accomplished and embraced it, then he could have kept Hormuz open and won the Nobel Peace Prize that he covets and doesn’t deserve.
This is impressive reporting on Ukraine. I already was aware of some of this news as I read Phillips O’Brien and have seen his interviews with Ukrainians. I also saw Zelensky’s excellent presentation if their drone technology to the British parliament. I am convinced that Ukraine will be a very important part of a new European leadership.
If we were in a war together, Diane, I would want you in a foxhole with me to keep me motivated and confident. Yes, without a doubt, Ukraine is the world leader in drone technology and asymmetric wars. But Russia is not all that far behind and copies everything Ukraine does while producing its own innovations (which Ukraine then copies). Courage, character, and motivation count for something, but Russia's huge resource base and Putin's obsessive intent to take all of Ukraine also count for something. If, after David's first stone, Goliath had raised himself and come after David, all of David's courage and motivation may not have prevailed.
Pres. Zelensky acknowledged that the war with Iran may have tilted the outcome in Russia's favor. And there still is Trump, who may not have much to offer Ukraine after exhausting his advanced arsenal on the Iranians. He is also a very vengeful president who may simply decide to ban any further sales to NATO, including PURL. I think it is a foregone conclusion that Trump will, one way or another, "partner" with Russia. Call it Russia derangement syndrome. That is why it is so important to vote Democrat this November.....to deny Trump the House.
Which leads us to Europe and NATO. Even now, neither Europe nor NATO is displaying the sort of unity and conviction that one can "take to the bank." Two examples: the $90 billion held up by the Hungarian tail wagging the EU dog, and the Russian sovereign money that should have gone to Ukraine but is held up by another tail in Brussels. Or consider Spain and Italy. Countries that are serious about the danger they face if Ukraine is defeated would have already quietly made it clear to the two tails to go pound sand. I recall how united the EU was in sanctioning Austria diplomatically in 2000 when one of Austria's politicians (Jorg Haider) remarked sympathetically on aspects of Nazi policy. Where is Europe when Orban hijacked $82 million from a Ukrainian armored vehicle, making a bank-to-bank transfer?