September 2026 Update - New UAO Collaborations

Dear Supporters of Ukraine,

this month's newsletter reached you a little later than usual, because we were, and still are, waiting for some major good news we cannot divulge just yet (hopefully in the next newsletter). One thing is certain since inception: UAO never over-promises and under-delivers.

As you know, we are working a lot with UGVs, unmanned ground vehicles, colloquially known as “ground drones”, equipment that we have procured and supplied with for about two years already - as the war evolves, so do we, as we are well connected to many brigades, battalions, and companies. Ever since the advent of FPV drones - what once was a discernible front line eventually evolved into a sprawling front zone. The proverbial last mile became just one of too many. From early on, UAO wanted to make an effort to support soldiers with front zone logistics – safer transportation of the wounded and all kinds of provisions. Over time, many Ukrainian start-ups had developed robust all-terrain UGVs, and so we initiated the “Four Wheeled Friends” ground drone fundraising campaign. During the previous months, one “Targan” ("cockroach" in Ukrainian) ground drone after the other was handed over to brigades almost every week, and more are being delivered right at this moment. Not standing still, UAO is also looking into procuring different and larger UGV platforms.

Donate towards Preston's "Kramatorsk" Campaign

Heartfelt addresses of gratitude from the valiant defenders of Ukraine show how much of an impact our ground drone campaigns have already made on the battlefield, with soldiers discovering clever new uses - for example, using ground drones fitted with a Starlink terminal as forward mobile relay stations - all the time.

Our September 2026 newsletter provides you with updates about our work in Ukraine - enabled by your generous donations:

• Two Youtubers join UAO once again - Combat Veteran News & Preston Stewart
• Abundant front zone deliveries - whatever is needed, UAO sources it

Your UAO Volunteer Team

Two Youtubers join UAO once again - Combat Veteran News & Preston Stewart

For many years, Paul Lewandowski of "Combat Veteran News" and Preston Stewart run popular YouTube channels that frequently explain and contextualise the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine for international audiences with a depth that mainstream media cannot deliver. Not surprisingly, generosity comes swiftly and plentifully, whenever they appeal to their communities to support the defenders of Ukraine. Thankfully, once again, UAO will team up with both for new fundraisers.

Combat Veteran News: Cutting Edge Technology - Ukraine’s Cyber-Physical Warriors

Paul Lewandowski is a U.S. Army combat veteran, and his YouTube channel “Combat Veteran News” (CVN) supported UAO the first time in 2024: Drone jammers for the Lyut Brigade that fought to stop the Russian assault on Vovchansk. Since then, Paul and his colleague Daniel traveled twice to Ukraine with our ground team, to meet the soldiers we support and to report directly from the ground. After both trips, his YouTube community donated towards a fundraising campaign to support the units Paul and Daniel had met. Once fibre-optic drones arrived as the most serious aerial threat in the front zone, the CVN community funded the purchase of anti-drone equipment such as collimator sights (“red dots”), drone jammers, and quad-bikes to replace many long and life-threatening walks in the front zone. Across multiple fundraisers and shoutouts, CVN raised close to a million $ together with UAO - an enormous achievement for the community.

After supporting drone crews of the 1st Unmanned Systems Center this summer, Paul’s CVN community will now focus on integrated technology. "Cutting Edge Technology: Ukraine's Cyber-Physical Warriors" follows a shift Paul has covered all year - Ukraine's elite formations now send an UGV down the road before deploying a soldier or send drones equipped with Starlinks to do reconnaissance behind the enemy lines. UGVs can transport ammunition and other supplies to positions that are impossible to reach safely by car, and they are also deployed to evacuate casualties. All hardware is rapidly worn down - batteries die, propellers snap, thermal optics malfunction, and UGVs can often not be retrieved once they have reached forward positions. The new fundraising campaign will support Special Operations Forces units, in particular the 3rd Regiment, the 3rd Assault Brigade, the 81st Airmobile Brigade, and other drone units. Your donations will be used for spare parts for UGVs, components for heavy drones, high-end laptops for drone pilots and headquarters, and Starlink terminals along with power stations to run them. Nearly 400 donors have already brought the fundraiser close to three quarters of its $80,000 goal. You can help to bring the fundraiser closer to its aim.

Donate towards CVN's "Cyber Warrior" Campaign

Paul with the UAO Team in Ukraine!

Preston Stewart for the Gate of Donetsk

When Preston Stewart launched his YouTube channel, his initial focus was on military history. Once Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, he sat out to educate his followers on equipment and strategy, helping them to understand the avalanche of newsbites on mainstream and social media. "I've had more and more audience members asking about trustworthy sources to donate to," Preston told us when we first teamed up, "so it felt like the right thing to try to bridge that gap”. In the autumn of 2025, Preston’s community joined UAO’s “Defending fortress Kramatorsk” fundraiser, raising a huge sum to protect the city. That winter, Preston drove the by then already imperilled road to Slovyansk himself to see the 93rd’s UGVs at work. This summer, his community donated towards our “Four wheeled friends” campaign for UGVs. One can say, that the Preston Stewart community has done outstanding work for the defence of Ukraine.

Preston’s and UAO’s new fundraiser "Preston Stewart for the Gate of Donetsk" returns the focus on defending Ukraine's key city in the East. The 3rd Assault Brigade's “Operation Vivaldi” pushed Russian troops back around Lyman in the north-east, but Russia started to push harder in the south-east, on the road from the ruins of Pokrovsk towards Dobropillia, the south-western gateway to the Kramatorsk and Slovyansk agglomeration, the well-known “fortress belt” of cities, with Kostiantynivka in the south.

General Denys Prokopenko, whose 1st Azov Corps leads the defense in that sector, says that his troops are outnumbered by about six to one. Preston met the 1st during his winter trip. To assault Ukrainian supply runs, Russia has also moved about a third of its “Rubicon” elite drone units to that area. Our joint fundraising campaign is dedicated to the support of four brigades: The 93rd Mechanized Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar," the 37th Marine Brigade, and the National Guard's 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade "Rubizh" and 18th Brigade "Sloviansk." Your donations will fund a winter's supply of drone batteries for the 93rd, drone jammers and power supply for the Marines, Starlink terminals for “Rubizh”, and generators and detectors for “Slovyansk” - the latter positioned in an area with hardly any electricity supply, as we learned when we delivered a generator this summer.

Both Preston’s and Paul’s fundraisers, done jointly with UAO, are dedicated to brigades we supported many times before, and we will keep you informed about the deliveries on social media and forthcoming newsletters. Donations are tax-deductible in the U.S., and EU donors can donate via bank transfer through our Dutch partner “Stichting Eyes on Ukraine” - please see the details on every campaign’s page. Whether you know UAO through Preston and Paul, or as a UAO newsletter subscriber, please consider donating, and also share the campaigns with those people you know that care about the defence of Ukraine from Russian usurpation just like you.

Donate towards Preston's "Kramatorsk" Campaign

Preston with the Yuri in Ukraine!

Abundant front zone deliveries - whatever is needed, UAO sources it

September was filled with the jingle of car keys. Partner organisations, donors and volunteer drivers drove more than a dozen of vehicles to Ukraine. After receiving the obligatory maintenance, they were handed over to many different units.

A little traffic jam from the Netherlands to Ukraine

Here are just some of UAO's deliveries: The 54th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion received two VW vans, a model its mechanics know inside out. One was sourced by Vehicles4Ukraine and the Diel Foundation, the other from a private donor, driven over by Balt and his friends. Vehicles driven by volunteers Simon, Elisabeth, Vincent Steffen and Henk went to the "Pirate Squadron" of Defense Intelligence, the 137th and 501st Marine Battalions and the "Perun" drone unit of the 42nd Brigade, while Janine and Hans donated an SUV for the 21st Army Corps, driving it over from the Netherlands. The 154th Brigade received a pickup with a UAO-provided drone jammer already installed, and the 3rd Assault Brigade an L200 for the ongoing "Operation Vivaldi", followed by large displays for command centres. The 18th Brigade "Sloviansk" made the dangerous trip to Kharkiv to collect a bus and a drone jammer. It was a great month for mobility improvements in the front zone.

This SUV was donated to the grateful 21st Army Corps to improve their logistics, driven to Ukraine by volunteers Janine and Hans.

Keeping the winter at bay, one generator at a time

With winter on the horizon, generators and power stations left our warehouse almost daily: A large generator for the 93rd Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar", and and substantial "energy packages", meaning generators, powers tations, etc., for the 26th and 147th Artillery Brigades, the Forpost border guards and the 18th Brigade. With our partners, we made deliveries to the 36th and 38th Marine Brigades large enough that they should last them through the coming months. Private donors Willem, Naut and Guido covered the power stations for the 154th and 5th Assault Brigades. In Kyiv, under incessant Russian air strikes, an air defence unit received generators, Starlinks and a truck driven to Ukraine by one of our friends.

Yuri’s and Sytske’s delivery journey also led them to the 36th Marine Brigade and 38th Marine Brigade that were in need of Starlinks, generators, power stations, and tablets

Drones on the ground and in the sky

Drones have always been one of our specialties, and this September, we delivered many: Your donations to our earlier fundraisers and our drone fund bought a large number of drones for soldiers from Defense Intelligence and four Matrice 4T thermal vision drones for a new battalion of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade. The 82nd Air Assault Brigade received a minibus with thermal optics, and later two more Matrice 4Ts and four Mavics, the latest Mavic 4 Pro among them. Targan UGVs went to the Special Operations Forces and to an Azov unit, whose commander "Balu" came for the pick up himself. The 421st Unmanned Systems Battalion received a Targan UGV, together with generators and power stations, paid for by the last "Combat Veteran News" community fundraiser. We also handed over dozens of Starlink Minis. The "Apachi" drone team of the 81st Brigade showed us how they mount them on ground and aerial drones to keep their video feeds free from jamming - a critical factor in today's drone war.

The 22nd Mechanized Brigade formed a new battalion; UAO delivered two highly valuable Matrice 4T thermal vision drones - thanks to your donations to the drone fund and previous fundraisers.

Thank you for standing strong with Ukraine. Together we will win this war!

Sincerely, the UAO Volunteer Team.

Heroyam Slava!