Humanists may regard war as rightly barbaric. However, in the midst of it, self-defence of a smaller power must confront such aggression for survival.
“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”
UN Charter, Article 51
Travelling to Ukraine with Romanian humanist Remus Cernea in 2024, I was able to visit a secret installation fit for construction and testing of some drone technology. Humanists may regard war as rightly barbaric. However, in the midst of it, self-defense of a smaller power must confront such aggression for survival. Article 51 of the UN Charter is clear: It preserves customary international law and the right to self-defence. The International Court of Justice requires that such actions meet necessity, proportionality, and immediacy.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 68/262 on 27 March 2014, affirming Ukraine’s territorial integrity. It declared the 2014 Crimean referendum invalid. Further annexations of Ukraine by the Russian Federation were condemned, and declared illegal. There followed the demand to withdraw all Russian forces. The UN General Assembly Resolution ES-11/4, was adopted on October 12th, 2022, by 143 votes in favor, 5 against, and 35 abstentions. These UN Assembly resolutions are non-binding, but carry moral and political weight. The Russian Federation has veto power at the UN Security Council.
Years later, between 2023 and February 24, 2025, the United Nations General Assembly adopted two resolutions: ES-11/6 and ES-11/7. These reaffirmed the sovereignty of Ukraine and its territorial integrity. They called for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in line with the United Nations Charter. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanded Ukraine recognize the annexations by Russia on April 28, 2025. The international community hasn’t budged much; same with the Kremlin. So, war continues.
Drone technology in Canadian public consciousness appears to emerge during one of the American Obama administrations. Its purpose was to deal primarily with war in the Middle East, and bombings in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, though, their use continued into the Russo-Ukrainian war too.
The earliest known instantiation of the ‘drone’ was in 1849 by Austrian forces besieging Venice. Launching unmanned incendiary balloons carrying bombs was pretty clever. The next known example was in 1917 when the British Royal Flying Corps developed the “Aerial Target”, an early-stage powered UAV for military training purposes.
These evolved into the 1930s and 40s with radio-controlled aircraft including Radioplane OQ-2. The Cold War Era introduced more sophisticated UAVs such as the Ryan Firebee during the Vietnam War. The late 20th century saw UAVs with real-time video feed and surveillance and precision strike capabilities. The 2000s and 2010s saw the first armed drone strike using an MQ-1 Predator in Afghanistan followed by consumer drones for photography, agriculture, and inspection.
The ‘Special Military Operation’ a full-scale invasion in terms of aggression, started by the Kremlin against Ukraine began February 24, 2022. Since then, we have seen advancements in AI and automation contributing to new war tactics involving autonomous drones for civilian and military applications.
Rapid construction, deployment, and coordination of drone technologies help the Ukrainians in this fight to maintain sovereignty and territorial integrity against the Russian Federation’s illegal annexation of Crimea (2014), parts of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts (2022), parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast (2022), and parts of Kherson Oblast (2022). Remus and I went to many places. One of note was a site blacked out and in a secret location in Ukraine for the construction of drones for the aforementioned “self-defense” of Ukrainian forces against Russian aggression. We were informed of a few things.
One, the nature of warfare has changed and has not changed. It has changed with drone technology, automation, AI, quality of military personnel and equipment, reconnaissance, and satellite imagery and other electronics. It has not changed with the digging of trenches, construction of frames for the trenches, building of bunkers, setting up barbed wire, use of artillery, of tanks, of manpower, of rifles, rockets, snipers, classic subterfuge, and mines. Trench networks span hundreds of kilometers. WWI and WWII tactics didn’t disappear. They re-emerged and evolved in war with the new craft of military stratagem layered laterally, across domains, and vertically, into new topologies, with them.
Two, drones are a key component when a smaller state is fighting a bigger state, particularly as more nations’ soldiers come to support the aggressor-–as with the North Koreans for the Russians. North Korea supplied KN-23 variant ballistic missiles to Russian forces, too. Russians returned the favour by helping to launch a military satellite. The cheapness of the drones can be as low as 3-figures in USD and can carry a reasonably sized payload and travel several kilometers.
Actual drone used, photo by Scott Jacobsen
The drones seen in the images are intended to travel only one-way. They are ‘suicide’ drones employed to neutralize targets at a distance with a camera and can be deployed in swarms. The low-cost option of drones is attractive in modern warfare. Acutely, it is a robust financial option when facing an opponent with more resources, more troops, and more technology.
We were told some Chinese technology appears to have been involved in the Russian drones retrieved from the battlefield. This would complicate the facts about North Korean troops, and new rising alliances of autocracies and theocracies, e.g., the CCP, the Kremlin, North Korea, and Iran–the so-called ‘Axis of Autocracy.’
Ukraine uses drones like the DJI Mavic for reconnaissance and grenade drops. This is done at an unprecedented scale, but is effective for their purposes. FPV drones are widely used, low-cost, and tactically effective. There are rules for drone strikes too; Hague and Geneva Conventions’ principles of distinction and proportionality apply here.
Brave1 and Ukrjet have been launched to scale drone production. As per February 24, 2025 UN commentary, and statements from the White House, Ukraine cannot necessarily rely on the United States of America for absolute support. Therefore, domestic production becomes key.
Loitering munitions, also known as “suicide drones” or “kamikaze drones,” are weapons designed to hover over a target area and strike when a suitable opportunity presents itself. Key loitering munitions are the Russian Lancet and the Ukrainian Warmate drones. Both sides engage in GPS spoofing, jamming as electronic warfare. AI-enhanced autonomous targeting and flight systems are in development, but aren’t fully operational. So, war evolves.
Humanists have talked about peace at the international level in the “Oslo Declaration on Peace” (2011) and, in specific, about the Russo-Ukrainian war in “Position Statement on Russian Invasion of Ukraine” (2022).
The “Oslo Declaration on Peace” stated, “All wars are started by human beings and war can be ended by human beings working together… This is possible… Peace is more than just the absence of war… The excessive stockpiling of arms around the world is a threat to peace… The United Nations, as envisaged in its original g charter, remains the best available international vehicle for the promotion of peace and cooperation… However, peace initiatives cannot be left solely in the hands of governments… Unfortunately, self-identified communities are often better at promoting peace among their own members than between themselves and other groups… States should move towards democracy and secularism to ensure that all individuals of whatever cultural or religious affiliation are given equal treatment in society… Lasting peace must be dynamic not static.”
The “Position Statement on Russian Invasion of Ukraine” has been covered in the Humanists International’s blog before. They condemned the invasion calling for protection of civilians. It is an opportunity to expand scope for the dual idealism of working for peace and confronting any unjust war. Both are clear. War can be ended. Peace is attainable. Peace is more than absence of war. Lasting peace is dynamic. It comes in gradients.
Sometimes, a gradient is enacted, and with justified right to self-defence, as with Ukraine, “in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.” Humanists can be mindful of realistic expectations with contemporary warfare balanced with stipulations for justice, human rights, and international law, and modes of self-defense too. 