Iran war disrupts supply lines to Ukraine’s battlefield
The blockade of routes from Asia due to the conflict surrounding Iran is making the supply of batteries and drone parts for the Ukrainian army slower and more expensive.
Editor’s note: Our team has launched a sister publication covering the war in Iran with the same human-centered approach as The Counteroffensive. Subscribe to Iran War Dispatches if you want to receive on-the-ground reporting from the Middle East.
On the morning of February 28, millions of people woke up eagerly anticipating the arrival of a long-awaited package from Asia.
Instead of a delivery notification, they received a different message:
“Due to route changes and cargo accumulation at hubs, delivery times between Asia and Europe may increase indefinitely.”
It was such a disappointment, though in the end, it was not a big deal – right?
On the same day, Ukrainian soldiers received a similar message, but they were waiting for batteries, which are crucial to operate on a battlefield.
Logistics companies like UTEC Group, which Andrii Tkachuk owns, now have to deal with growing customer frustration.
The war in the Middle East didn’t surprise him. But though he is used to war conflicts, his familiarity does not make them any less painful.
The war in Iran is already hitting the supply chains that the country depends on every day.
Large container lines are redirecting ships away from the Suez canal – the main shortcut between Asia and Europe – and sending ships around the southern tip of Africa instead. At the same time, flights carrying cargo between Asia and Europe lost 39 percent of their capacity, and logistics companies were forced to choose alternative routes or cancel deliveries altogether.
Delivery times, shipping costs, and cargo insurance are rising, increasing the cost of products and their parts, especially for military supplies.
Asian countries are traditionally the biggest exporters of batteries, backup power supplies, and electronic components – supplies which Ukraine desperately needs nowadays for communication, repairs, and drone production.
Even though winter is over and the country’s power grid is slowly recovering from blackouts, the needs of the front lines and the military at large remain high, showing how regional destabilization miles away from Ukraine can directly influence its military effect.
Andrii didn’t come to logistics overnight. At first, he worked with various kinds of technology and dealt with cryptographic protection to make the data unreadable to others. Shortly after, he began independently importing various goods from China, like multi-SIM cards, electronics, phones, and accessories.
Over time, friends and partners asked him to help bring goods from China. Andrii realized the need for someone who could organize the entire process, from finding and verifying suppliers to negotiating and delivering goods. He founded his company in 2007.
“Over time, we started transporting everything. We transport explosive goods, batteries, and large items,” Andrii said.
Logistics has long been considered the art of delivering the right goods, in the right condition, to the right place at the right time, at the best price. That’s how the world seemed to work until 2020.
Since then, Andrii has rarely faced easy days.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the sense of stability in this area. According to the World Bank, global trade faced the sharpest decline since World War II.
Andrii’s company needed to adapt quickly. When the world was desperate for masks, protective suits, and other medical supplies, he agreed with airlines that passenger seats in some planes be removed so that as many boxes of masks as possible could be loaded.
At the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia blocked shipping in the Black Sea. Rail routes through Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus were also canceled, cutting off one of the key land routes between Asia and Europe.
As a result, Andrii Tkachuk does not find the new global crisis particularly surprising.
“Something new is constantly happening. Stability in the world and in logistics is becoming increasingly rare,” he told The Counteroffensive.
Asian imports represent a whole range of critically important categories for Ukraine. But key to this is the supply of batteries. On the front line, units are often located in fields with no electricity or communications, making it impossible for them to function without an autonomous power supply.
“We [Ukrainians] are very dependent [on Asia] in many areas. All batteries come from there. Both parts and finished devices come only from China. So this [the war in Iran] will have a big impact,” Andrii said.
In the first few days, seven countries in the region closed or severely restricted their airspace, and more than 6,000 flights were canceled. At the same time, recent tensions in the Strait of Hormuz rose sharply amid hostilities and threats to shipping. Hundreds of ships were forced to stop, and oil and gas prices rose almost immediately.
For maritime logistics, this also meant a longer route.
“Now all ships are sailing around Africa. This adds 20 to 30 days. And that has a significant impact on costs,” said Andrii.
Andrii’s company had been heavily reliant on Emirates and Qatar, two airlines which had offered an efficient service before the disruption.
The conflict in the region paralyzed Doha and Dubai, which are the hubs for Emirates and Qatar, two key hubs for global cargo transportation, leading to a 22 percent drop in global air cargo capacity and pushing up freight rates, while some carriers began either canceling flights or rerouting them to longer and more expensive routes through Africa.
When those options disappeared, Andrii’s company started looking for alternatives immediately.
The military will be the first to feel the impact, since they depend on a continuous supply of fuel, equipment repairs, and new components.
“If you can’t deliver some bolts to the factory on time, they simply won’t be able to release the product. And that would be a disaster. So that’s the most dangerous thing,” said Andrii.
Although the Ukrainian front’s dependence on Asia is no longer as absolute, it has not disappeared.
According to data from the Ukrainian defense sector, as of March 2026, Chinese components account for 38 percent of domestic drone parts. Over the course of four years, Ukraine has managed to organize its own production of flight controllers, antennas, and radio modems. This was a direct response to Beijing’s export restrictions in 2023-2024.
However, the front is not yet able to completely break free from Chinese dependence. Lithium-ion batteries and rare-earth magnets for motors are still components that make it impossible to build drones completely China-free at this time.
Another problem is that in wartime, the whole logic of cargo security changes.
“Military risks are mostly not covered in contracts. This means that if something happens to the cargo because of the war, no one will pay compensation,” Andrii says.
In addition to higher delivery costs, those who wait for their parcels face uncertainty and limited information about their arrival.
In this situation, Andrii is doing all he can – changing routes, airlines, and launching charter flights. In any of these solutions, the prices are higher than those offered earlier, but this is the best option, since the alternative is waiting for ships that bypass Africa.
“Transparency in logistics is a huge problem right now, and you can know much more about your parcel from Temu or other sites than about cargo worth a couple of million dollars. Sometimes you can ask the carrier where it [your cargo] is, and he will say, ‘I don’t know, I need to find out, I’ll let you know tomorrow,’” Andrii said.
Editor’s note: Our team has launched a sister publication covering the war in Iran with the same human-centered approach as The Counteroffensive. Subscribe to Iran War Dispatches if you want to receive on-the-ground reporting from the Middle East.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
By Oleksandra Khelemendyk, Anastasiia Lutsenko, Tania Novakivska and Mariana Lastovyria.
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
EU ACCUSED RUSSIA OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on human trafficking linked to Russia’s recruitment of foreigners to fight in Ukraine. These are cases in which Moscow offers training or jobs, for example to citizens of African countries, but ultimately forces them to sign contracts with the army or work at military enterprises.
The EU has called for investigations into these schemes and for sanctions against those involved.
RUSSIA DISRUPTS OIL SUPPLY TO EUROPE: Russian troops have attacked oil pumping stations in southern Ukraine for two days in a row, said Serhiy Koretsky, Chairman of the Naftogaz Board. One of the stations was partly damaged.
Since the beginning of this year, Russia has carried out more than 30 attacks on Naftogaz Group infrastructure facilities. The purpose of such attacks is to halt non-Russian oil flows to Europe.
SPANISH FIGHTERS INTERCEPTED RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT: As part of NATO’s Eastern Guardian mission, Spanish fighters intercepted two Russian aircraft on Monday, March 9.
This happened as Spanish fighter jets took off from the Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania to escort two Russian Air Force Su-24 aircraft flying in international airspace near NATO borders.
UKRAINE OPENS BATTLEFIELD DATA TO TRAIN AI FOR DRONES: Ukraine will allow international partners to train AI models for unmanned systems using real battlefield data under a new experimental program approved by the government, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
The Defense Ministry’s platform will let companies safely develop autonomous technologies without access to sensitive databases, helping speed up innovation for the battlefield.
DOG OF WAR
Tania’s dog, Mike, is riding on the bus, sitting on the laps of Tania and her boyfriend.
Stay safe out there!
Best,
Oleksandra
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Excellent report. I’ve read in the past that logistics wins wars. This post shows how critical they are.
Everything trump touches dies, including trade routes and logistics. Nothing of value comes from a man and admin so inept, clueless, and incompetent. As trump and his corrupt, crony family and admin thrives, Ukrainians and many others throughout the world, try to simply survive.