The German Bundeswehr plans to tailor Army training by incorporating Ukrainian soldiers to share their drone-handling skills and frontline lessons, aiming to bridge gaps between peacetime drills and real combat.

A Wall Street Journal report on a NATO Baltic exercise suggests a Ukrainian-led team overwhelmed several armored units, prompting debate over how exercise scenarios can be balanced to avoid giving undue advantages.

During Hedgehog, Ukrainian drone teams demonstrated rapid kill-chain execution, disrupting parts of a British brigade and Estonian units, while French forces used fortified positions with different outcomes, highlighting mixed effectiveness.

The feature from WELT presents a timed video segment, adding a narrative frame to the coverage of these defense developments.

Baltic-region readiness is connected to drone defense needs, with limited deliveries of Skyranger air-defense vehicles planned for the Litauen Brigade only around 19 units, not arriving before 2028.

The story builds on multiple external references, including the Wall Street Journal and NATO comments, with German outlets citing related coverage.

To bridge gaps, the Bundeswehr is pursuing interim, 'bridging' approaches to drone defense, built on the motto: 'Everything is better than nothing'.

Regional defense leaders in Schleswig-Holstein and Kherson Province emphasize mutual learning and addressing challenges in defence capability, resilience, and civil-military coordination.

German political hurdles previously blocked armed drones, delaying integration, but leadership changes last year began to lift restraints amid ongoing technical and organizational challenges.

NATO and partner forces collectively number around 3.4 million troops in 2025, with the USA, Turkey, and Poland as the largest contributors; Germany contributes about 185,000 soldiers.

Analysts note gaps in modern warfare understanding among some NATO troops, but acknowledge Hedgehog’s lessons for certain scenarios and the importance of drone defense.

The discussions include ongoing Germany-Ukraine cooperation at regional and national levels to bolster defence and resilience.