Demian Shevko

Defense and frontline journalist in Ukraine.
Reporting on war, Russian narratives, military technology, and the realities behind the headlines.
@NewVoiceUkraine

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

Russia’s war against Ukraine is existential for both states. Defeat would fundamentally change — or even end — the form in which either country exists today.
For Ukraine, defeat could mean the collapse of its project of building an independent state based on Western democratic values, and potentially the loss of its place on the political map of the world.
For Russia, losing the chance to establish political and economic control over Ukraine could undermine the ideological foundation of the current regime, potentially leading to internal chaos and fragmentation.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

A downed Shahed, casually dumped near garbage bins in Kharkiv.
Before Russia’s full-scale war, this image would have been unimaginable in any Ukrainian city, or anywhere in Europe.
Now, in the fifth year of the invasion, even the surreal has become part of daily life.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

“It is important to prevent the deformation of democracy during wartime.”
This is the deeper message of the op-ed: Ukraine’s survival is not only about weapons.
It is about whether a democratic state can endure a war of attrition without losing itself.
Full op-ed: https://t.co/6KZLFzsgEE

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

Valerii Zaluzhnyi’s new op-ed, which I exclusively published on my Substack, is not just a text about Ukraine’s war.
It is a warning to Europe.
His core message: Ukraine’s experience is the most expensive security lesson available to the democratic world today.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

“This is a war where there is virtually no difference between the front and the rear.”
Zaluzhnyi argues that cheap, mass-produced, precise weapons — especially drones and AI-driven systems — have changed the logic of war.
The rear is no longer safe. Infrastructure, energy, logistics and civilians are all within reach.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

This is bigger than one incident.
If an international institution cannot clearly identify an aggressor even after video evidence emerges — including footage published by the attackers themselves — then the entire idea of international justice begins to erode.
The UN was created to prevent wars and defend international law. But moments like this increasingly expose its paralysis, political caution, and inability to confront aggression directly.
And if the world’s main international body cannot distinguish between aggressor and victim, then democratic nations will inevitably continue searching for new alliances and mechanisms capable of defending law, accountability, and justice in the modern world.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

Russian FPV drones attacked UN vehicles in Kherson on May 14.
Ukrainian officials, including President Zelenskyy and Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin, publicly confirmed it was a Russian strike.
Russian Telegram channels then published the FPV drone footage themselves.
Yet despite publicly available evidence, the UN still avoided directly naming Russia as responsible.
https://t.co/DWLKUF64Ik

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

The visual evidence is difficult to dispute.
Top: footage published by Russian Telegram channels from the attacking FPV drone.
Bottom: video from the targeted UN vehicle itself.
The same road. The same vehicle. The same moment.
The drone operators clearly knew they were attacking a UN humanitarian convoy.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

One interesting point from our conversation: the UN Security Council was never considered a realistic option for such a tribunal because Russia would veto it.
That pushed Ukraine and its partners toward the Council of Europe instead — preserving the tribunal’s international character while bypassing Moscow’s blocking power.
Full interview for The New Voice of Ukraine: https://t.co/qf7r0hvxMI

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

One of the biggest legal paradoxes of modern international law is that while war crimes and genocide can be prosecuted internationally, launching a war of aggression itself remains extraordinarily difficult to punish.
Ukraine is now trying to change that.
The Council of Europe has approved another step toward establishing a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Russia.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

“The crime of aggression is the umbrella crime that enables all other atrocities,” Legal Adviser with @GRC_HumanRights Maksym Vishchyk told me.
He notes that after Nuremberg and Tokyo, international law developed mechanisms for prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide — but never fully solved the issue of aggression itself.
The ICC’s jurisdiction over aggression remains extremely limited, forcing Ukraine and its partners to search for alternative international mechanisms.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

My recent trip to Kramatorsk offered a glimpse into how rapidly the battlefield is changing — from anti-drone net corridors over roads to the growing threat of fiber-optic FPVs

More here: https://t.co/6AZXwRn3TK

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

One of the reasons Ukraine has managed to withstand more than four years of full-scale war is its ability to adapt technologically faster than many expected.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll recently praised Ukraine’s Delta system for integrating drones, sensors, intelligence, and strike platforms into a real-time battlefield network.
But what strikes me most after recent trips near Kramatorsk is how brutally fast this technological race evolves.
Anti-drone nets now cover roads and entire sections of frontline cities. Six months ago, they became essential protection. Today, soldiers increasingly describe them as partly psychological.
Fiber-optic FPVs bypass electronic warfare. Operators learned to fly under the nets through intersections and road entrances. Some drones now simply wait beside roads for targets.
The battlefield adapts almost monthly now.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on Ukraine’s Delta battlefield management system:
https://t.co/6TnFQRtWeD

[🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 @front_ukrainian]

❗️During hearings in the US Senate on May 13, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll highly praised Ukraine’s Delta combat management system.

“It fully integrates every drone, sensor, and fire platform into a single real-time network. We don’t have anything like that,” he stated.

According to him, American troops are actively studying Ukrainian experience, and during recent joint exercises in Germany, Ukrainian specialists demonstrated their methods of conducting modern warfare. “We learned a great deal from the Ukrainians.”

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

I’m Demian Shevko, 40, a Ukrainian frontline journalist and contributor to The New Voice of Ukraine.
I write about the realities behind the headlines.
As I am writing this thread from my apartment in central Kharkiv late on the evening of May 13, I can hear the sounds of a heavy Russian bombardment somewhere over the city, along with the buzzing of Shahed drones above my neighborhood.
And you know what? That is probably one of the most disturbing parts of this war — you slowly begin getting used to things no human being should ever get used to.
If you find my work valuable, please consider following this account and sharing my reporting.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

Russia’s war against Ukraine is existential for both states. Defeat would fundamentally change — or even end — the form in which either country exists today.
For Ukraine, defeat could mean the collapse of its project of building an independent state based on Western democratic values, and potentially the loss of its place on the political map of the world.
For Russia, losing the chance to establish political and economic control over Ukraine could undermine the ideological foundation of the current regime, potentially leading to internal chaos and fragmentation.

[Demian Shevko @Dem_UA]

The uncompromising struggle of the Ukrainian people for their right to exist in the face of a brutal invasion has captured global attention, turning Ukraine into a major factor in international politics.
Despite the rise of populism, cynicism, and political opportunism around the world, thousands of foreigners have still come to Ukraine to help.
You can read more about this in my articles: “Life and Death With Ukraine’s Foreign Volunteers on the Front Line,” “The Spy War Behind the Front Line: How a U.S. Volunteer Flipped a Kremlin Honeypot,” and “From Wellington to the Front.”