The Armed Forces can be left without "Mavicians": is there an alternative to Chinese UAVs in Ukraine

To spread: Ukraine's defense forces are increasingly faced with a lack of DJI Mavic drones due to export restrictions on China. Chinese "Mavika" is massively used by military for near intelligence and correction of artillery. At the same time, the general trend indicates that DJI UAVs can disappear from the front, consider in "RBC-Ukraine". The full -scale war has increased demand for MAVIC in Ukraine ten times.

In 2023, Prime Minister Denis Shmigal even stated that Ukrainians buy up to 60% of world production of these drones. However, in May 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Chinese Mavic was "open to Russians but closed to Ukrainians". The Command of Forces of Unmanned Systems (SBS) of the Armed Forces confirmed that there are unofficial restrictions on the part of Chinese producers. In particular, it is about increasing delivery time, rising prices and complicated logistics.

The lack of "Medicov" was also noted by the chief of staff of the battalion of the unmanned Antares systems of the "Rubiz" brigade Samir Mahmudov. According to him, the restrictions became noticeable last year. The military noted that the units "screwed up with the help of" E-Balms "and turn to volunteers. The commander of the platoon of the UAV 109 TRO Brigade Yegor Firsov said that there are a number of UAVs from other foreign manufacturers, so there is a search for ways to buy them.