Author, film director and ex-military man Jonas Öhman says he understands.
He has been closely following developments in Ukraine since 2014, when he founded the organization Blue/Yellow in response to Russia’s occupation of Crimea. In 2022, at the start of the full-scale invasion, drones and drone equipment accounted for a tenth of their support for Ukraine. Now it’s at least 80 percent.
We see how the drone war has completely taken over.
Öhman is originally from Västerbotten and trained at the Parachute Fighter School in Karlsborg, but has lived in Lithuania for many years. When the “green men” - Russian special forces in unmarked uniforms - appeared in Crimea, he immediately understood: Now there will be war.
I was scared. I live in the Baltics - I knew that if Russia succeeds in this in Ukraine, the Baltics are next.
“Non-lethal” support
Over the years, Öhman has built up a large network of military and civilian contacts in Ukraine. Blue/Yellow has collected 1.3 billion Swedish kronor, which has been converted into primarily military, “non-lethal” support - no weapons or ammunition, but various types of technical and electronic equipment. Not least drones.
For Ukraine, the organization's support has been "invaluable" in being able to resist the Russian attacks, says Jonas Öhman.
For example, our drones stopped an armored division at Pokrovsk, we were involved in the offensive against Kherson, and our drones were the last to fly in Bakhmut. And so on.
During his last visit to Ukraine, in July, he saw large-scale nets set up over the city of Zaporizhia to stop Russian drones. The takeover of unmanned systems is noticeable everywhere, even among the medical staff that Blue/Yellow works with.
I would say 90 percent of the injuries we see in soldiers are drone-related. They're pretty brutal injuries. The whole military medicine is changing.
Send military
But few outside Ukraine seem to understand or want to admit how much of the warfare now revolves around drones, according to Jonas Öhman.
Within NATO, and also in other countries, they have enormous confidence in their own capabilities and their own, very advanced systems. To have to say that those systems now play less and less of a role... They don't want to admit it.
The West is also being too “generous” in its support for Ukraine, Öhman believes. He himself is certain: the war can only be resolved on the battlefield - not at the negotiating table.
There is a reluctance to go against Putin's ambitions as much as we would need to, he says.
For example, I am of the opinion that we must start sending military personnel to Ukraine. We must stop Russia.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden has contributed approximately SEK 157 billion in military and civilian support to Ukraine, according to the government.
Civilian support has been financed mainly by aid funds since the start of the war and currently (August 2026) amounts to approximately SEK 29 billion. Sweden has promised aid-financed civilian support to Ukraine of at least SEK 10 billion per year in 2026–2027 and at least SEK 10.5 billion in 2028.
Military support amounts to around SEK 128 billion. This includes everything from protective equipment to tanks, weapon systems and ammunition.
Together with the EU, Sweden has also made decisions on macroeconomic support for Ukraine, as well as on several sanctions packages against Russia.
Several private and non-profit initiatives in Sweden are also contributing money, equipment, humanitarian and medical aid to Ukraine.
