A tiny team of Ukrainian drone pilots repeatedly shut down a major NATO exercise by “destroying” so many troops and combat vehicles that further training became pointless, a Thursday statement by the contributing unit 1st Corps said.
The Sweden-run exercise, called Aurora 2026 ran from April 27 to May 13, 2026. The major NATO training event taking place largely in southern and central Sweden and in the Baltic Sea, the exercise mobilized a reported total 18,000 troops in land, sea and air forces from thirteen countries.
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The main event of the training was a force-on-force defense of the Swedish island Gotland in the western Baltic against a simulated Russian hybrid war attack, but the wide-reaching exercises also practiced defense of Stockholm’s sea reaches from naval raids, joint ground and air operations, and emergency movement of troops and material to a threatened region.
A pair of Ukrainian drone teams acted as adversaries as part of the notional Russian force “attacking” Gotland.
“The scenario is about, we have on the Eastern side of the NATO border, like Finland and the Baltic states, we have a massive buildup of enemy units, a concentration of units on that side, and we also have, within Sweden, and within other allied nations, we have hybrid activities. It’s an increased level of hybrid activities like sabotage, cyber attacks, influence operations, things like that,” said Rear Admiral Jonas Wikstrom, the Swedish exercise director, in comments published by Supinye Novyni on Thursday.
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According to Swedish media reports, there were about 16,000 Swedes from all branches along with 1,300 allied nation troops participating in the training. Reports mentioned the US, the UK, Denmark and France as NATO member major co-participants.
Individual formations present at the training on and around Gotland Island, among others, included Sweden’s South Skåne Regiment, the Luftvärnsregementet Lv6 air defense Regiment, and the 32nd Home Guard Regiment.
Non-Swedish units involved in the Gotland section of the training included, reportedly, elements of the US Marine Corps 3rd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, the US Army’s Combat Logistics Battalions 24 and 27, Danish Home Guard troops, and British infantry.
According to information released by Ukraine’s 1st Army Corps “Azov” on Thursday, two Ukrainian drone teams were sent to the exercise as well: one each from the 1st National Guard Brigade “Buravei” and the 20th National Guard Brigade “Lyubart.”
Both brigades are combat-seasoned and usually considered reliable and competent Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) fighting outfits, but not on the level of Ukraine’s special forces commandos or the elite unmanned systems forces, an organization responsible for Ukrainian medium- and long-range drone strikes against targets inside Russia.
Members of 1st Brigade’s organic drone battalion, called Kondor, participated in the training. Operating almost exclusively Ukraine-manufactured observation, kamikaze and bomber drones, Kondor is fairly typical of AFU drone units currently operating along the front line. According to Ukrainian media reports, together the two drone units numbered less than 20 Ukrainians.
During the last three days of the exercises, from May 11-13, field exercises simulated NATO units (“blue forces”) defending key installations under Russian hybrid war attack including conventional military assault along with unconventional war tactics. The Ukrainians’ role in the exercise was to act as adversaries (“red forces”) and simulate Russian attackers using drones.
Video made public from exercise organizers showed state-of-the art Swedish Gripen fighter aircraft roaring through the air on barely overhead low passes, powerful Swedish Archer long-range howitzers pumping out shells, and advanced CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks rumbling across a training area.
Video made public by 1st Corps, and the US news wire service AP, showed a typical-looking drone team operating standard, domestically-manufactured, First Person View (FPV) drones fitted with directional antennas and extended-life batteries likely of Ukrainian manufacture buzzing away towards a target.
Ukrainian equipment was likewise shown to be standard for the AFU, with operators using commercial tablets, Game Boy-analogue control units and off-the-shelf viewing goggles common in Ukraine’s military for years. Some images showed Swedish military drone pilots working in tandem with the Ukrainians.
A Ukrainian pilot identified by the Associated Press as “Tarik” confirmed his unit’s successful attacks forced Swedish organizers to stop training and return troops and equipment notionally destroyed by attack drones “back to life” three times.
In one mechanized assault scenario Ukrainian crew working with Swedish pilots “wiped out” 28 out of approximately 32 pieces of major equipment. In another episode, Ukrainian FPVs swarmed and destroyed the defenses of a military airfield in less than 20 minute, hitting all targets successfully with no drones lost, the 1st Corps statement said.
“Due to the effectiveness of the [Ukrainian] FPV pilots, their participation in certain stages [of the exercise] was even curtailed so that other units could complete the exercises without completely ‘losing’ their equipment to Ukrainian drones,” it said.
Aside from role-playing as notional enemies, Azov trainers “shared their experience in using UAVs, coordinating units and working in conditions of active electronic warfare,” in briefings to Swedish, French, United Kingdom and Netherlands service members, the Ukrainian post-exercise statement said.
“They are miles ahead of us when it comes to drone warfare, so we really appreciate them coming here to share their experience with us, and we have a lot to learn from them,” said Andreas Gustafsson, commander of the Sweden-led brigade combat team responding to the “Russian” attack in the Gotland scenario.
The Aurora 26 maneuvers took place one year after a similar NATO exercise, called Hedgehog 2025, was run in Estonia. In that May 2025 operation ten operators from the Ukrainian drone unit Nemesis, a.k.a. the AFU’s 412th Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) Brigade, flew as opposing force drone pilots operating against a “friendly” task force composed of Estonian regular and home guard troops, and British regular army infantry from 1st Battalion, the Mercian Regiment.
Nemesis is one of the USF standout drone units. Its commander, former police detective Anatoliy Merkotun, an early proponent and developer of the USF’s now-ubiquitous bomber drone technology, and one of the pioneers of using small drone video-derived imagery and data fusion to develop intelligence and conduct strikes more efficiently.
In the 2025 Hedgehog exercises, Nemesis’ bomber and FPV drones shut down training repeatedly by inflicting unacceptable “casualties” on British and Estonian units. In one simulated battle Ukraine-piloted drones effectively wiped out two NATO motorized infantry battalions attempting to attack an objective by driving through thick woodland that trapped vehicles on roads.
Merkotun in a post-exercise interview and published by the 1st Brigade said NATO tactics keeping fighting vehicles and troops in compact groups seemed seemed nearly suicidal, and that the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces had abandoned that way of fighting years ago.
A Ukrainian drone operator identified as “Karat” told an AP reporter during the 2026 training in Gotland that NATO forces “have potential” but they need significant improvements in drones, tactics, and understanding of drone warfare at the commander level.
