Lasar’s Group vs. NATO’s Drone Crisis: Inside Ukraine’s ‘McDonald’s’ Model That Europe Is Desperate To Copy

The Wall Street Journal just obtained something no Western media outlet has managed before—camera access inside the command center of Ukraine’s deadliest drone unit. What they found wasn’t a scrappy volunteer operation anymore. It was an industrial-scale killing machine that runs 24 hours a day, destroying Russian equipment at a rate that’s made its commander one of Moscow’s most wanted men. The timing couldn’t be more relevant: as Russian drones shut down Copenhagen Airport and penetrate 62 miles into NATO airspace, European defense ministries are scrambling to learn what Colonel Pavlo Yelizarov figured out in his garage three years ago.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The Development: Lasar’s Group, a Ukrainian National Guard drone unit, has granted the Wall Street Journal exclusive access inside its secret command center—the first time cameras have been allowed inside.
• The “So What?”: The unit operates like a “McDonald’s” franchise, flying hundreds of missions per night with pilots safely positioned in rear bunkers while ground crews deploy nearly unjammable heavy bombers with Starlink built on board.
• The NATO Angle: Commander Pavlo Yelizarov wants to export his operational knowledge to NATO and beyond—precisely as European nations struggle to counter Russian drone incursions across Poland, Romania, and Scandinavia.

Lasar’s Group has eliminated $12 billion in Russian equipment

Lasar’s Group is a Ukrainian National Guard drone unit that has eliminated an estimated $12 billion worth of Russian military equipment since September 2022, including nearly 20% of Russia’s confirmed tank losses. The unit pioneered the integration of Starlink satellite terminals directly onto heavy bomber drones, enabling internet-based control beyond line-of-sight and allowing pilots to operate from secure rear positions instead of vulnerable front-line locations.

The WSJ footage reveals what we first reported in October when Forbes Ukraine featured Yelizarov on its cover: this isn’t a guerrilla operation anymore. It’s a sophisticated command center where dozens of pilots attack Russian targets around the clock, coordinating with ground crews who can fly hundreds of missions per night.

“I looked at how the White Wolves worked and saw a great family restaurant,” Yelizarov told Forbes Ukraine. “But you can’t win a war with a family restaurant—you need to build a McDonald’s.”

A TV producer with zero military experience built Ukraine’s deadliest unit

Colonel Pavlo Yelizarov, 56, built Ukraine’s most lethal drone unit despite having zero military background prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion. A former television producer who ran one of Ukraine’s most popular political talk shows, Yelizarov volunteered to defend the country the day after Russian troops began their advance on Kyiv. His top deputy at the TV station soon followed.

The breakthrough came in mid-2022 when Yelizarov bought a smuggler’s agricultural drone for $10,000—a device previously used to sneak cigarettes across borders—and strapped an anti-tank mine to it. His technical director then conceived the game-changing innovation: attaching Starlink satellite terminals to drones for internet-based control that could reach almost 40 miles.

Yelizarov invested hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money to build out the volunteer team. They grew so rapidly that they were absorbed into the National Guard as one of the first official drone units of the Ukrainian military. Over three years, only 16 of Lasar’s Group personnel have been killed—a remarkably low casualty rate enabled by the remote piloting capability.

Starlink integration makes the heavy bombers nearly unjammable

The Lasar’s Group heavy bomber drone achieves near-immunity to Russian electronic warfare through its integrated Starlink satellite communication system, which provides continuous internet connectivity for control signals at ranges approaching 40 miles. Unlike traditional radio-controlled drones that rely on line-of-sight communication vulnerable to jamming, the Starlink-enabled system routes commands through low-Earth orbit satellites, making interception and disruption significantly more difficult.

This innovation has become standard across Ukrainian forces, as we’ve documented since the early months of the invasion. The system allows pilots to fly at low altitude over extended distances, with each ground crew pairing with a pilot and navigator back at the control center. The WSJ footage shows training operations where crews install munitions and prepare drones for takeoff while pilots hundreds of miles away execute the actual strikes.

Russia has attempted to counter Starlink-enabled drones through sophisticated jamming technology, but the satellite constellation’s redundancy and SpaceX’s ongoing countermeasures have largely preserved Ukrainian operational capability.

Europe’s drone defense failures are driving desperation

The WSJ video explicitly connects Lasar’s Group to Europe’s current drone crisis, noting that:

“drones have gone from battlefield experiment to indispensable, scalable machines of destruction so paramount to war that Ukraine and Russia are locked in a race to produce drones each month that are cheaper, faster and more lethal. Now they’re testing Europe’s defenses.”

The footage references Russian drones spotted in NATO airspace across Romania, Poland, and Copenhagen—incidents we’ve covered extensively. Copenhagen Airport shut down for nearly four hours in September 2025 after drone sightings. Poland shot down approximately 20 Russian drones that violated its airspace—the first time NATO forces engaged Russian assets since the 2022 invasion. A Russian drone penetrated 62 miles into Romanian airspace in November while fighter jets watched helplessly.

The asymmetric cost problem is driving European desperation. NATO spent millions firing missiles at drones costing just a few thousand dollars each. As we reported when the EU fast-tracked its “drone wall” initiative, the economics simply don’t work for conventional air defense.

Yelizarov’s NATO export ambitions align with European training partnerships

Pavlo Yelizarov has become one of Russia’s most high-value targets precisely because his operational model works at scale. According to the WSJ, he now wants to take his operations global and export his knowledge to NATO and beyond. The timing aligns with what we’ve documented as Ukraine’s emergence as NATO’s drone warfare teacher.

Ukraine has already deployed military specialists to Denmark for joint exercises on countering drone threats. Poland signed a memorandum establishing a working group focused on drone warfare cooperation. The UK launched Project OCTOPUS to mass-produce Ukrainian interceptor drones. Romania is moving to establish joint drone production with Ukraine using €16.6 billion in EU defense funding.

The irony is hard to miss. NATO spent decades trying to bring Ukraine up to alliance standards. Three years of brutal warfare flipped the script entirely. Ukraine’s rapid iteration cycle—driven by real-time battlefield feedback—has lapped the sclerotic Western defense procurement system that takes years to field new systems.

DroneXL’s Take

The WSJ exclusive validates everything we’ve been reporting about Ukraine’s drone warfare revolution since 2022. When we first covered Aerorozvidka’s night strikes using Starlink connectivity, skeptics questioned whether volunteer units could sustain operations against Russian military might. Lasar’s Group answered that question by eliminating $12 billion in equipment while losing only 16 personnel.

What strikes me most about the “McDonald’s” metaphor is how perfectly it captures the operational philosophy that Western militaries still haven’t internalized. Yelizarov didn’t try to build the most sophisticated drone system—he built the most scalable one. The same principle that lets McDonald’s serve billions of hamburgers lets Lasar’s Group fly hundreds of missions per night: standardized processes, distributed execution, centralized coordination.

The funding crisis facing Lasar’s Group—which we reported in October when Forbes Ukraine revealed the unit’s state budget constraints—highlights a dangerous gap in Ukraine’s defense ecosystem. This unit has proven its return on investment at a stunning scale, yet faces potential operational cutbacks. Meanwhile, Ukraine deploys 9,000 drones daily against Russian forces, consuming drones faster than any nation can produce them.

Expect Yelizarov’s NATO export ambitions to accelerate as European nations realize their billion-dollar defense systems can’t handle $10,000 drones. The question isn’t whether Western militaries will adopt Ukraine’s model—it’s whether they can move fast enough to matter. Based on the bureaucratic paralysis we’ve documented around the EU’s stalled drone wall initiative, I’m not optimistic.

Editorial Note: This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI to ensure technical accuracy and archive retrieval. All insights, industry analysis, and perspectives were provided exclusively by Haye Kesteloo and our other DroneXL authors, editors, and Youtube partners to ensure the “Human-First” perspective our readers expect.