Ukraine has emerged as a global leader in drone technology, deploying its systems both to intercept the low-cost kamikaze drones launched by Russian forces and to conduct deep strikes inside Russia. Interestingly, many of these drones carry names inspired by wordplay, dark humor, and a spirit of vengeance.
The names of Ukraine’s cutting-edge, low-cost, mass-produced drones often lean into dark humor, memes, and everyday absurdity rather than solemn patriotism. This approach is apparently meant to boost morale at home and capture international attention through a viral social media appeal associated with quirks.
While official designations exist for many systems, frontline operators, volunteers, and manufacturers frequently assign playful, irreverent nicknames, particularly to interceptor and kamikaze drones. The humorous naming adds a layer of psychological warfare, humanizes the technology for supporters of Ukraine’s war effort, and turns serious military tools into shareable symbols of resilience and wit.
A standout example of this approach is the PS-1 Sun drone, manufactured by the Ukrainian defense technology company SkyFall, popularly known in Ukrainian slang as “pissioun” for “penis.”
It is a fast, cheap 3D-printed interceptor that has downed thousands of targets in the conflict so far. The appeal of this drone and its name is such that “Pissioun” has become a near-standard for interceptor drones, and the manufacturer even sells merchandise like “Pissioun” printed on t-shirts.
Based on the surging popularity of the drone, Skyfall unveiled a new high-speed interceptor called P1-SUN Jetkiller—a faster version of the existing Pissioun drone—at the UK’s ongoing Farnborough Airshow, among a host of other weaponry. According to reports, visitors stopped at the booth to photograph a new version of the PS-1 Sun.
These names, which combine wordplay, dark humor, and angry phrases, have come to represent resistance and provide some humor to a nation that has been at war with Russia for more than four years. “We wanted to create an effective product and also boost the morale of the soldiers a little. And we’ve succeeded: the mythology has taken off, this drone has become a global star,” a SkyFall spokesperson told AFP.
Another Ukrainian company, Fire Point, which makes long-range drones, has co-opted the wordplay strategy. Two drones, “FP1 and FP2″, have been used to unleash terror on Russian military and civilian infrastructure in recent times, with the FP-1 particularly being the hero of long-range strikes on Moscow’s oil refineries and other energy infrastructure.
While both these drones officially take their names from the company’s initials, the FP internally stands for “F*** Putin,” directed at the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Separately, Ukrainian company Falcons unveiled a low-cost interceptor drone, named the “D1L-Duck”, earlier this year. The drone is also known as Dildak or Dildron, which loosely translates to “dildo” in the Ukrainian language, and is part of the profanities employed by Ukrainian companies for drones specifically designed to attack Russia.
Another interesting example of this rather brutal humor is the “UEB-1”, a high-speed Ukrainian interceptor drone developed by the company OSIRIS AI. While the naming may seem normal to a non-Ukrainian person, it is loaded with profanity derived from the Ukrainian slang “Uyeban”— a vulgar but common term roughly translating to “fu*k*r,” according to Ukrainian military bloggers who have been candid about the “dark humor.”
The name fits the cheeky, meme-inspired naming convention of Ukrainian interceptors, adding psychological flair to drones doing serious work against Russian drones.
Naming has also been intentional at Ukraine’s state weapons firm, Ukroboronprom, though far less candid and vulgar and far more defiant and aggressive.
“Liutyi,” a deep-strike drone, which is also on display at Farnborough, means both “February,” the month Russia began its full-scale invasion in 2022, and “Furious” in Ukrainian. This drone has a more straightforward, intimidating patriotic name that evokes aggression and power. It serves as Ukraine’s homegrown counterpart to the Russian Shahed-136, and is classified as a propeller-driven, long-endurance strike platform for deep attacks on rear-area targets inside Russia.
Liutyi has been used extensively in 2024–2026 for deep strikes inside Russia, targeting oil refineries, military factories, and airbases, etc.
Another drone of interest produced by Ukroboronprom is the “Palianytsia.”
A turbojet-powered drone-missile, often called a “rocket drone” or missile-drone hybrid, Palianytsia is named after a traditional Ukrainian round bread loaf. It carries cultural significance and a touch of everyday resilience rather than overt aggression or dark humor. The Palianytsia drone missile, in fact, became a household name in Ukraine as President Zelenskyy referred to it in his public speeches.
Another drone produced by the state arms producer “Peklo” is a Ukrainian long-range jet-powered loitering munition, which was named by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy himself, a senior official at the conglomerate who requested to remain anonymous told AFP. The name is direct and ominous — “Hell” — evoking devastation for the enemy.
The name represents what the official called “vengeance for all of Ukraine and punishment” for the devastation inflicted by Russia, including that of the Antonov An-225 “Mriya”, the world’s largest cargo plane and a symbol of Ukraine’s aerospace industry that was destroyed in the initial days of the invasion.
These names often appear on social media, Reddit, and defense forums, along with photos and videos of the drones in action, and the EurAsian Times understands this is an incomplete list of the quirky names given to the thousands of drones during the war.
The naming stands as a classic example of wartime gallows humor, turning cheap, effective weapons into symbols of defiance and ridicule against the enemy.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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