This was stated by Valentyn Badrak, director of the Center for Army Research, Conversion, and Disarmament, in an interview with Espreso.The expert recalls that the destruction of the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva in April 2022 had a global impact on the course of the entire war. “First and foremost, it gave confidence in our own strength to fight at sea — for a country without a fleet. It gave faith in the superiority of creative new solutions over traditional ones, and essentially, belief in technology on land and in the sky,” Badrak explains.This was followed by a near-continuous series of complex operations, accompanied by the dynamic development of specialized weaponry. Successful “raids on ships” of the occupiers forced them to hide their vessels in bays and to further fortify those bays.In July 2023, the automobile section of the Crimean Bridge was severely damaged with the help of an experimental maritime drone. “This demonstrated the broad range of capabilities of surface drones in warfare and marked a completely new level for the Defense Forces: gaining combat competencies that had never existed before,” the expert comments.Drones have evolved into advanced combat systems: former kamikaze models carrying explosives have become unique multifunctional and reusable platforms.Among the successful operations using maritime drones, Badrak lists the strike on the Russian Black Sea Fleet minesweeper Ivan Golubets, attacks on the Russian boat Ivanovets, the landing ship Caesar Kunikov, and others.“Of particular interest is the constant and systematic upgrading of USVs. In May 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) transformed the Sea Baby maritime drone into a multifunctional platform equipped with a multiple rocket launcher. And in December 2024, the Ukrainian Navy for the first time released footage of kamikaze boats acting as ‘drone motherships’ capable of launching their own FPV drones,” Badrak comments.Ukraine is now using maritime drones with naval mines, machine gun systems, unguided rockets, surface-to-air missiles, torpedoes, and even “drone motherships” carrying FPV drones.Among the major operations of 2024–2025 were the attacks by Ukrainian maritime drones on gas drilling platforms in the Black Sea seized by the Russians. “According to some reports, the Magura V5 USV costs less than $250,000, while the enemy lost helicopters and military ships worth millions of dollars,” the expert notes.According to him, many things the Defense Forces have done in the war at sea are unprecedented in military history. For instance, on May 2, 2025, Ukrainian forces destroyed two Russian Su-30 Flanker multirole fighter jets over the Black Sea using unmanned boats armed with air-to-air missiles — the first such incident ever. And with the attack on the Crimean Bridge in June 2025, Ukrainian special services demonstrated their reach into yet another domain of warfare — underwater.These successful operations have spurred the global development of “marine robots” and hybrids. “In this context, a notable example is the combination of combat trials in Ukraine with British technological advancements. Specifically, Britain is already assisting in the development of new maritime robotic systems — including the Wasp and Snapper surface drones — to support Ukraine’s capabilities in the Black Sea,” the expert states.The future lies in innovation and the integration of overlapping domains (for example, when drones strike targets in the air, dive underwater, and so on), Valentyn Badrak concludes.