Superpower status is rare, but Ukraine is rewriting the rules of military power. From revolutionary naval drones like the Magura V7 and Sea Baby to unprecedented drone strikes deep inside Russia, Kyiv is transforming modern warfare. While it still lacks nuclear deterrence and full logistical capacity, Ukraine’s combat experience, technological innovations, and growing global influence signal a potential rise as a military superpower. Could Europe’s underdog become unstoppable? Watch to find out.
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00:00Superpower. The very word conjures up images of unmatched might.
00:05It's the ultimate status for a nation, signalling its dominance on the global stage.
00:10But it's not easy to become one.
00:12In fact, the number of nations to have achieved the status of superpower can be counted on one hand, with
00:18a finger or two to spare.
00:20But now, some experts are predicting that another nation could be set to join the rarefied ranks of military superpowers.
00:27And it's one that no one would have predicted even half a decade ago.
00:33Ukraine
00:33So, let's take a look at what defines a military superpower and examine the signs that Ukraine is on the
00:40way to becoming one.
00:42To start with, let's define exactly what a military superpower is, which turns out to be easier said than done.
00:49Scholars often disagree on the criteria that define a superpower and what distinguishes it from other powers.
00:56There are various definitions, but perhaps Britannica sums them all up most succinctly.
01:02A superpower is a state that cannot be ignored on the world stage and without whose cooperation no world problem
01:09can be solved.
01:10The possession of highly superior military capabilities is generally considered to be the most important element in distinguishing a superpower,
01:19such as the US, from a major power, such as France or the United Kingdom.
01:23But it's not the only criterion.
01:26A superpower is characterized by its ability to project influence and power globally across multiple dimensions, of which military supremacy
01:35is just one.
01:36Economic power, including a large advanced economy with a large GDP, global trade influence, and a dominant currency, is in
01:45many senses just as important.
01:47Without this economic power, a nation has serious constraints on funding military, diplomacy, and soft power initiatives.
01:55Political influence is another key factor in being regarded as a superpower.
02:00This includes leadership in international institutions such as the UN Security Council, NATO, and the IMF, the ability to shape
02:09global agendas, and the capacity to exert overwhelming diplomatic leverage to bear.
02:14Military and economic might are, of course, essential to flex this political and diplomatic muscle.
02:20Soft power, or cultural power, is another important determinant of superpower status.
02:26Global influence through media, entertainment, education, and cultural exports, think Hollywood and Facebook, goes a long way towards molding values,
02:36behaviors, and perceptions worldwide in the superpower's favor.
02:39A large skilled population, control over abundant natural resources, technological and scientific leadership in crucial technologies, are also considered to
02:50be important factors.
02:51And some scholars believe that a coherent, globally relevant political philosophy or ideology, like liberal democracy or capitalism, is essential
03:00for a superpower to be able to dictate international norms and alliances.
03:04Now, under this broad definition of the term superpower, Ukraine is undoubtedly a long way from achieving that status.
03:13Frankly, so is almost everyone else.
03:15The only nation broadly accepted as a superpower today is the US.
03:20Most academics consider the Soviet Union to have been a rival superpower before its collapse.
03:25But few currently consider Russia a superpower, and for good reason.
03:29It certainly falls far short of most of the economic, soft power, and demographic requirements.
03:36Economically, China is certainly a superpower.
03:39It's the so-called world factory, the world's largest exporter and second largest importer.
03:45And when measuring by purchasing power parity, its GDP is significantly larger than even the US's.
03:52However, it still lags behind the US militarily and in most of other criteria, leading most experts to consider it
03:59as an emerging superpower, not a fait accompli.
04:03However, all three nations are considered superpowers by some measures, along with the UK and France.
04:10By 2050, some have predicted that countries such as Brazil, India and Indonesia will join them, at least from an
04:17economic and global influence perspective.
04:19But for now, the US remains top of the pile by some distance.
04:24But if we're talking strictly about a military superpower as opposed to the broader definition, things look different.
04:30And it's here, in the military domain, that Ukraine is staking its superpower claim.
04:36Now, this is the kind of astute deep dive we specialize in here at The Military Show.
04:41So, subscribe to the channel for your daily dose of the latest and most important military news and insight.
04:48A military superpower is distinguished by its ability to project overwhelming and sustained force globally, with dominance across multiple domains.
04:58Five factors typically come into play.
05:00First is global power projection, i.e. the capacity to deploy and sustain military forces anywhere in the world, supported
05:08by a network of overseas bases, strategic airlift and naval fleets.
05:14The US is way ahead in this regard, maintaining a network of more than 800 overseas bases, a huge fleet
05:21of aircraft and tankers to refuel them, and 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
05:26That kind of power enables rapid response and persistent presence around the world.
05:32This is arguably the area where Ukraine has the furthest to go in order to become a military superpower.
05:39Still, it's making progress, and has to a large extent already overtaking Russia, especially at sea.
05:45Ukrainian forces are increasingly active in places like Sudan, Mali, and even in Iran.
05:51Most of these activities target Russian forces or the local forces they back.
05:56Indeed, according to Kirylo Budenov, Ukraine's military intelligence chief, their mission is to destroy Russian war criminals anywhere in the
06:05world, wherever they are.
06:06In the bloody, long-running Sudanese civil war between government forces and the rebel Rapid Support Forces , reports of
06:15Ukrainian military involvement are contradictory.
06:17On the one hand, Ukrainian special forces have reportedly conducted drone strikes and ground operations against the RSF,
06:25and mercenaries from the infamous Russian Wagner Group private military company that support them.
06:31On the other hand, Sudanese foreign ministry official, Mohamed Al Sir, has claimed that Ukraine provides support to the RSF
06:39by supplying them with drones, which are offered at very low prices.
06:43Maybe Ukraine is indeed playing both sides, as Russia appears to be.
06:48While Wagner mercenaries are almost certainly assisting the RSF, the Kremlin retains close military ties with the Sudanese government.
06:56Still, while the likes of the US, Russia, the UK, France, and even Israel command a greater ability to project
07:03power than Ukraine on land,
07:05at sea, Ukraine is rapidly catching up, and in some senses has already overtaken the rest of the field.
07:12In particular, Ukraine is busy revolutionizing maritime warfare with its use of naval drones.
07:19Most of the modest navy that Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union at independence in 1991
07:25was seized or destroyed during Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the initial stages of its invasion of Ukraine
07:32in February 2022.
07:34However, subsequently, Ukraine has used its ever-evolving naval drone capabilities to transform maritime warfare in the Black Sea,
07:43enabling a smaller, under-resourced navy to challenge Russia's larger fleet through asymmetric tactics.
07:49And they've been so successful at it that Ukrainian naval drone technology and expertise are now in big demand around
07:57the world.
07:57The bottom line is that Russia, and likely many other militaries,
08:01simply weren't prepared for the new threat to its navy and commercial fleet from Ukrainian naval drones and the way
08:07Ukraine uses them.
08:09Naval drones travel towards their targets on the sea surface or just below it.
08:14They're very difficult to detect and to hit when they've been detected.
08:17That means that when they strike, it often comes as a complete surprise to the target,
08:23adding an element of psychological terror to the physical destruction they wreak.
08:27Over the course of the war, Ukraine has scored a number of high-profile hits on prized Russian vessels,
08:33costing Russia untold amounts in damage and even more in terms of reputation.
08:38The most prominent systems include the Magura V-5, Magura V-6P and Magura V-7,
08:45developed by Ukraine's main directorate of intelligence, the HUR, and operated by the 385th USV Brigade.
08:53Added to that mix is the Sea Baby, developed by Ukraine Security Service or SBU.
08:59These multi-purpose unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, have a diverse mission profile.
09:06They're capable of reconnaissance, surveillance, mine countermeasures, and most tellingly, high-impact kamikaze attacks.
09:14The name Magura has dual meanings. It's the name of a Slavic warrior goddess.
09:19But it's also become an acronym for Maritime Autonomous Guard Unmanned Robotic Apparatus.
09:25The original Magura V-5 was introduced in 2023.
09:29It's an 18-foot-long USV with a 5-foot beam, 1.3-foot draft, and a 1.1-tonne
09:36displacement.
09:37With a price tag of an estimated $250,000 to $300,000 per unit, it has a range of up
09:43to 500 miles and a payload of up to 660 pounds.
09:48And that's enough firepower to cause serious damage to a much larger military warship, like a destroyer or corvette,
09:55which typically cost millions of dollars or more.
09:58The Magura V-5 first came to attention in May 2023, when three of them attacked and damaged the Ivan
10:05Kors,
10:06a 4,000-ton Yuri Ivanov-class, also known as Project 18280, intelligence collection ship.
10:13The ship was sailing hundreds of miles from Ukraine at the time of the attack.
10:18Attacks with the drone continued, and in February 2024, the Magura V-5 gained global attention
10:25when it became the first naval drone to sink an enemy warship.
10:28During the attacks, it destroyed the Russian Tarantul III-class guided-missile corvette Ivanovets,
10:35and the 4,000-tonne Rapucha-class Cesar Kunikov landing ship.
10:40Within the first year of becoming public, Magura V-5 USVs operating in one-way attack mode
10:46reportedly destroyed eight Russian warships and damaged six more, causing more than $500 million in damage to the Russian fleet.
10:53By the end of 2025, it had reportedly damaged or destroyed at least 20 Russian military vessels.
11:01And with Ukraine reportedly able to produce at least 50 of them a month, it's unlikely those costs are going
11:07to end there.
11:08As mentioned earlier, a large part of the Magura's effectiveness is how challenging they are to detect.
11:14The drones incorporate a low-profile V-shaped carbon fiber hull with a waterline height of only 1.6 feet
11:21and a low thermal signature.
11:23They're powered by water jet propulsion and have a cruising speed of roughly 22 knots and a top speed of
11:2942 knots,
11:30although burst speeds of up to 54 knots have been claimed.
11:34While technical details are mostly classified, the USVs are thought to possess GPS, inertial,
11:40and first-person view camera guidance via two electro-optic cameras.
11:45These are combined with mesh radio with aerial repeater or satellite communications
11:49to provide jam-resistant multi-channel communication.
11:53In addition to explosive warheads, they can also carry alternative payloads like machine guns,
11:59anti-tank guided missiles or even surface-to-air missiles or SAMs.
12:03As if that wasn't enough for the Russian fleet to contend with,
12:07in the spring of 2025, Ukraine introduced the larger Magura V-7 variant.
12:13The V-7 is 24 feet long and displaces 1.3 tons light and up to 3.7 tons fully
12:20loaded.
12:21It features significantly enhanced sea-keeping capabilities, AI-enabled targeting,
12:26and an extended operational range of around 800 nautical miles.
12:30It can operate with a maximum payload of around 1,400 pounds,
12:34and is frequently pictured carrying two SAMs on launch rails.
12:38Indeed, in May 2025, the V-7 made further naval drone history
12:44when it shot down two Russian Su-30 strike fighters with A-9 sidewinder missiles.
12:49In parallel with the Magura attacks, the SBU's Sea Baby drone has reportedly damaged or destroyed
12:56a further 11 Russian warships in the Black Sea.
12:59Originally conceived as a single-use kamikaze boat, in October 2025,
13:04the SBU demonstrated that the platform had evolved into a reusable multi-role platform.
13:09The range of the upgraded Sea Baby has been expanded from around 600 miles to more than 900 miles,
13:16and its payload doubled to a whopping 4,400 pounds.
13:21Like the V-7, it can also be fitted with remote-controlled weapons systems,
13:25including multiple rocket launchers and guns.
13:27According to SBU Brigadier General Ivan Lukashevich,
13:31the new vessels also feature AI-assisted Frendorfo targeting systems
13:36and can launch small aerial attack drones and multi-layered self-destruct systems to prevent capture.
13:42The combination of Magura and Sea Baby USBs has caused serious havoc
13:47among the previously vaunted Russian Black Sea Fleet.
13:50On paper, the mismatch between the size of the fleet and Ukraine's miniscule traditional navy
13:55is such that no one predicted just how effective they would be.
13:59But the net result is that the Black Sea Fleet had to put its soggy tail between its legs
14:04and flee from Crimea hundreds of miles east to Novorossiysk.
14:08Moreover, Ukraine's naval drones, especially the longer-range Sea Babies,
14:13have made it unsafe for Russia's commercial fleet,
14:16especially its sanctions evading so-called Shadow Fleet.
14:19Ukraine has already hit several Russian tankers,
14:22damaging them severely enough to take them out of action for extended periods.
14:26And these attacks have taken place not just in the Black Sea,
14:30but off the coast of Senegal, in far-removed Russian ports and in the Mediterranean.
14:35It's become so bad for Russia that they're probably going to have to start sending warships
14:40to escort their commercial fleet, putting them at the risk of Sea Baby attacks
14:43and compromising their naval defenses back home in the process.
14:47So, Ukraine has in a very real sense transformed naval warfare.
14:52Most other nations' warships are at the same kind of risk from this technology as Russia,
14:58and Ukraine is the undisputed leader.
15:00It should come as little surprise them that a lucrative USV export market is opening up for Ukraine.
15:07A landmark agreement with US company Red Cat Holdings has enabled the company to assemble
15:12and sell the Magura V7 in the US.
15:15Lithuania is also exploring co-production of Magura drones,
15:19with half the units intended for Ukraine and half retained for its own defense.
15:24These growing export opportunities for Ukraine's latest military technologies
15:28are a sign that Ukraine is approaching the second criterion for being considered a military superpower.
15:35Advanced technology and multi-domain dominance.
15:39Typically, in the modern era, that means cyber warfare, space operations,
15:43AI-driven systems, and fifth-generation platforms like F-35 fighters.
15:48But Ukraine has advanced and refined the use of drones to such an extent
15:52that it must already be considered a superpower in unmanned systems.
15:56And that expertise isn't just at sea.
15:59It's just as prevalent in the air and increasingly on the ground.
16:03Russia has certainly narrowed the gap and in some respects,
16:07such as the ability to scale production, overtaking Ukraine in terms of aerial drones.
16:12But the truth is, for most of the war, it's been playing catch-up,
16:15or struggling to come up with countermeasures to Ukraine's innovations.
16:20From FPV kamikaze drones that have turned the long-established method
16:24of armored column-based maneuver warfare into a death trap,
16:27to an increasing variety of long-range strike drones pummeling targets deep inside Russia
16:32in increasing numbers nightly, Ukraine has become a drone superpower.
16:37But it's not just the drones themselves that distinguish Ukraine.
16:41It's the ingenious ways it uses them.
16:44Look no further than the famous Operation Spiderweb as evidence.
16:48In an encounter that will undoubtedly become a chapter
16:51in asymmetrical warfare textbooks for generations to come,
16:55Ukraine simultaneously attacked five airfields as far afield as Siberia,
17:00damaging or destroying at least seven of Russia's strategic long-range bombers,
17:05transport planes, and perhaps most crucially,
17:07one of its rare AWACS-type long-range reconnaissance planes.
17:12What's more, they carried out the attack with small, cheap quadcopter-type kamikaze drones,
17:18launched not from Ukraine, but from right near the five bases.
17:21The drone components were smuggled into Russia and assembled in secret.
17:26They were then loaded into specially-built trucks with detachable roofs
17:29and driven, by unsuspecting drivers it appears, close to the bases.
17:34The roofs were then remotely opened and the drones launched at their targets.
17:38It was a daring and hugely successful operation,
17:41perhaps only trumped by Israel's use of similar tactics in the early part of Israel's
17:462025 12-day war with Iran.
17:49However, it's just the most well-known of hundreds of such strikes,
17:53which have cost the Russian war machine tens of billions of dollars
17:56and deeply impacted its logistics, military production, oil production and energy exports.
18:02And Ukraine's growing capacity to plan and conduct ever-increasing numbers of these strikes
18:07also points to its emergence as a military superpower.
18:11Now, the next two criteria to be considered a military superpower
18:15are admittedly still a long way off for Ukraine.
18:17To be considered a military superpower,
18:20a nation should have at its disposal a massive budget and industrial capacity.
18:25Military superpower status should also be reflected in dominant positions
18:29in strategic alliances and influence.
18:32Ukraine certainly has carved out a unique, critical and growing role for itself
18:36in European security architecture.
18:38And President Zelensky enjoys a superpower-like relationship
18:41with the leaders of the most powerful European nations.
18:45Ukraine also has a special relationship with NATO.
18:48However, it's still largely at the mercy of the alliance's decisions
18:51and doesn't have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council,
18:55typically considered par for the course for a superpower.
18:58But in the penultimate criterion,
19:00Ukraine is again making rapid progress towards superpower status.
19:04That is, a military superpower should possess an abundance of combat-ready manpower and logistics.
19:11With regards to logistics,
19:12Ukraine is dependent on Western aid for many of its vehicles.
19:16Wartime has forced the shuttering of its airports,
19:19and Russia continues to pummel its railways, roads and bridges.
19:22While it may be a superpower at restoring damaged logistics,
19:26Ukraine simply doesn't have the capacity during wartime
19:29to maintain the kind of logistics infrastructure that screams superpower.
19:34However, when it comes to manpower, it's a different story.
19:38At an estimated 800,000 strong,
19:41Ukraine's army is the biggest in Europe
19:43and undoubtedly the most experienced and battle-hardened
19:45after four years of grinding war.
19:48Sure, there are major issues such as an estimated 310,000 desertions
19:53and growing public discontent with harsh force mobilization tactics.
19:57But the fact is that four years into the war,
20:00Ukraine is still standing its ground like a superpower.
20:03It's not collapsed, as a great many predicted at the start of the war.
20:07When the war ends, all that experience among so many soldiers
20:11should translate into an armed force that few, if any, opposing forces can match.
20:16Now, the final criterion to be considered a military superpower
20:20is one that controversially remains out of Ukraine's reach,
20:24but perhaps not for long.
20:25Nuclear Deterrents
20:27In particular, modern military superpowers typically possess a nuclear triad
20:32land, air and sea-based delivery systems,
20:35ensuring second-strike capability and strategic deterrents.
20:39The Soviet Union took the nukes it had stationed in Ukraine when it left the country,
20:43and what remained of its enriched uranium was handed over to the US in 2012.
20:47So, for now, Ukraine doesn't have a nuclear deterrent at all, let alone a nuclear triad.
20:54But that could be temporary.
20:56In October 2024, former deputy secretary of the Security Council of Ukraine,
21:01and ex-deputy commander of Ukraine's special forces, Sergei Krivinos,
21:06controversially claimed that Ukraine's lack of a nuclear deterrence was a matter of choice.
21:11When Ukraine, through the hands of Yanukovych in 2013, gave the last and rich uranium to the United States,
21:18our capabilities were significantly reduced,
21:20Krivinos told the New Life channel in an interview.
21:23But we can achieve this goal if we do it quietly and without advertising,
21:27and there are more than enough people in Ukraine who know how to do this and did it at one
21:32time.
21:32Indeed, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service in February 2026 accused the UK and France of preparing to arm Ukraine with
21:41nuclear weapons,
21:42in spite of being signees of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which precludes such supply.
21:47Both the UK and France strongly rejected the allegations, but maybe the smoke indicates there's a fire brewing.
21:54Without a nuclear deterrence, it's hard to make the case that Ukraine, or any non-nuclear armed nation for that
22:00matter, is a military superpower.
22:03But in almost every other regard, they're on track to become the most powerful military in Europe, if not one
22:08of the most powerful in the world.
22:10And that's exactly what Russia didn't want to see happening.
22:14Now, subscribe to the channel if you want to stay informed on the very latest in the war in Ukraine,
22:19such as this video.
22:20Thanks for watching.
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