During the Hedgehog 2025 exercises held in May last year, a group of ten Ukrainian UAV operators «destroyed» 17 armored vehicles of a mock enemy within half a day and carried out around 30 additional strikes on other targets. According to The Wall Street Journal, the episode demonstrated that NATO armies are not prepared for modern drone warfare. More than 16,000 troops from 12 NATO countries took part in the drills.

The newspaper reports that due to a lack of camouflage and operating in the open, alliance forces in one scenario effectively lost combat capability and were completely «wiped out» when attempting to move to the offensive. Estonian Lieutenant Colonel Arbo Probal said the exercise achieved its objective, as the defeat forced participants to critically reassess their actions. The article notes that the drills exposed serious tactical vulnerabilities in NATO armies under high-intensity combat conditions, especially with the mass use of drones.

Earlier, NATO analysts concluded that in the event of a blockade of the Kaliningrad region, Russia would need only a few days and a limited contingent of about 15,000 troops to fully occupy Lithuania. According to their forecasts, the Bundeswehr brigade stationed in the Baltic republic could be blocked by Russian kamikaze drones and drone minelayers, preventing it from assisting the Lithuanian army.