Fighting mercenaries: A Ukrainian soldier’s perspective Artwork

Guns for Hire

The Guns for Hire podcast is a production of the Atlantic Council’s North Africa Initiative. Taking Libya as its starting point, it explores the causes and implications of the growing use of mercenaries in armed conflict. The podcast features guests from many walks of life, from ethicists and historians to former mercenary fighters. It seeks to understand what the normalisation of private warfare tells us about the world as we currently find it, but also about the future of the international system and about what war could look like in the coming decades. Written and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.

All Episodes

Guns for Hire

Fighting mercenaries: A Ukrainian soldier’s perspective

March 05, 2026 • Season 2 • Episode 15

0:00 | 51:05

Send Alia a Text Message

Alia sits down with Dimko Zhluktenko, a Ukrainian drone pilot and analyst within the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Ukrainian military. They discuss the realities of drone warfare in Ukraine, as well as the ways in which mercenary forces change the nature and tempo of battle. Dimko describes how he and his comrades are combatting Shahed drones, the psychological mechanisms necessary to keep fighting an army which uses waves of expendable manpower, and the need for NATO to start thinking of drones as bullets. Dimko also talks about how procurement and innovation cycles on both sides of the war are now measured in weeks, and how the geeks of war have turned the tide in Ukraine.

The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi.

Get in touch at: gunsforhirepodcast@gmail.com.

Alia Brahimi

Host