Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Lee delivered parcels in Taiwan for a living, hung out with friends or played video games after work. He knew of Ukraine only from S.T.A.L.K.E.R., a game set in the Chernobyl nuclear zone.

在2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰之前，李在台湾是一名外送员，下班后不是和朋友聚会，就是打电动。他对乌克兰的了解仅限于《潜行者》这款以切尔诺贝利核禁区为背景的游戏。

Now, he is serving in the Ukrainian Army on the battlefield and hoping that what he has learned about drone warfare can help not only Ukraine but, someday, his own homeland.

如今，他正在乌克兰军队服役，战斗在前线。他希望学到的无人机作战经验，不仅能帮到乌克兰，也希望有朝一日能对自己的祖国有用。

“The war will happen one day with China, and then my experience will be valuable,” Lee, 37, said in an interview at a coffee shop in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, while on leave from the front. He asked to be identified by only his first name, in keeping with military protocol.

“有一天跟中国也会发生战争，那时我的经验会很有价值，”37岁的李在乌克兰首都基辅一家咖啡馆接受采访时说。他当时正从前线轮休。出于军队的规定，他要求文章仅使用他的姓氏。

Lee is part of an emerging, informal network of ordinary citizens and defense companies building partnerships between Ukraine and Taiwan. Driven by the threat of conquest by much larger hostile neighbors, they are sharing lessons, resources and battle-tested technology.

李是一个新兴非正式网络的组成部分——这一网络由普通公民和国防企业共同构成，致力于在乌克兰和台湾之间建立伙伴关系。出于对被更强大的敌对邻国吞并的担忧，他们正在分享经验、资源和经过实战检验的技术。

Their efforts bypass the absence of official diplomatic or military relations between Ukraine and Taiwan, as well as sensitivities in both governments about upsetting China. The Ukrainian drone industry depends on China for most of its components, like motors and batteries. Taiwan, too, is deeply integrated into the Chinese economy.

这些努力绕开了乌台之间正式外交和军事关系的缺失，也避开了两国政府都不愿得罪中国的敏感问题。乌克兰无人机产业的大部分电机和电池等零部件依赖中国供应，台湾同样也与中国经济深度融合。

Since 1992, Ukraine has adhered to the “One China” principle, which means it ​recognizes only the Chinese government in Beijing​, not Taiwan. And to avoid antagonizing China, Taiwan does not want ​it to view it as going too far to aid Ukraine, given Beijing’s “no limits” partnership with Moscow.

自1992年以来，乌克兰一直坚守“一个中国”原则，即只承认北京的中国政府，不承认台湾。而台湾为避免激怒中国，也不希望北京认为它援乌力度过大——毕竟北京与莫斯科保持着“无上限”的伙伴关系。

Still, unofficial exchanges of military technology and expertise are occurring among executives of defense companies and volunteers like Lee. The two governments have also inched closer together as Taiwan has sent humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Ukraine, and Ukrainian lawmakers have visited Taipei, Taiwan’s capital.

尽管如此，国防企业高管和像李这样的志愿者之间仍在进行非官方的军事技术与经验交流。与此同时，随着台湾向乌克兰提供人道主义和重建援助以及乌克兰议员访问台北，双方政府间的关系也在悄然拉近。

2022年，在台北，人们正在打包捐赠物资。俄乌战争期间，台湾向乌克兰提供了援助。

Lee said he believed that Taiwan, as it tries to strengthen its defenses against any potential invasion by China, should adopt the inventive arsenal of flying, swimming and crawling robots that Ukraine has used to even the odds.

李表示，他认为台湾在加强自身防御、应对中国可能入侵的过程中，应当借鉴乌克兰用以扭转战局的那套创新武器体系——包括飞行、游弋和地面爬行的各类机器人。

He said that when he travels home, friends he once served with in the Taiwanese Army, some of whom are still members, are overflowing with questions about drones on the Ukrainian battlefield.

他说，每次回台湾，曾与他一同在台湾军队服役的朋友——其中一些人如今仍在役——都会不停询问乌克兰战场上的无人机情况。

They ask how a drone can be electronically jammed, or how to escape when one chases you, he said. In fact, little can be done if an exploding drone targets a soldier.

他们问无人机怎么会被电子干扰，或者被无人机追踪时该如何逃脱。他说，实际上，一旦爆炸性无人机锁定士兵，几乎无计可施。

“Those questions are like baby questions — like asking how to eat,” he said.

“那些问题就像婴儿级的问题——就像问人该怎么吃饭一样，”他说。

Defense analysts and some retired Taiwanese defense officials have criticized Taiwan’s military over its sluggishness to innovate, including its failure to fully embrace the sort of asymmetric warfare that Ukraine has pioneered.

一些国防分析人士以及部分台湾退役防务官员批评台湾军方在创新方面动作迟缓，包括未能真正全面接受乌克兰所开创的那种不对称战争模式。

The Taiwanese government has also acknowledged obstacles to forming official defense connections with Kyiv.

台湾政府也承认，与基辅建立官方防务联系方面面临重重障碍。

“Ukraine’s experience in using drones in real combat environments is highly valuable,” said Tsou Yu-hsin, a deputy director general of the Industrial Development Administration in Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. But wartime secrecy around drone technology, he said, made it difficult to study Ukraine’s techniques.

“乌克兰于实战环境中累积之无人机运用经验具高度参考价值，”台湾经济部产业发展署副署长邹宇新表示。但他指出，一些技术涉及了与国防安全及机敏性质，后续如涉及技术引进或应用评估，仍有待国防主管部门机关评估。

Yet one rank-and-file Ukrainian soldier who vacationed in Taiwan with his girlfriend was invited to speak to representatives of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in the Taiwanese Parliament.

然而，一名正与女友在台湾休假的乌克兰普通士兵受邀向台湾立法院外交及国防委员会的委员们发表演讲。

The soldier, who pilots drones, said he spent hours last summer describing the war in Ukraine. He asked that his name be withheld because he had not been authorized to speak to the Taiwanese government or to The New York Times.

这名无人机飞行员士兵表示，去年夏天他花了几个小时讲述乌克兰战争的情况。由于未获授权与台湾政府或《纽约时报》交流，他要求隐去姓名。

Ordinary Taiwanese are also trying to learn more. Tina Hu, 35, a project manager in Taipei, said she had read a civil defense handbook that mentioned drone safety based on Ukrainian experiences. She has found the location of a nearby bomb shelter and prepared a “go bag” with batteries, flashlights and food for each member of her family.

普通台湾民众也在努力了解更多相关信息。35岁的台北项目经理蒂娜·胡（音）表示，她读过一本民防手册，其中提到了基于乌克兰经验总结出的无人机安全知识。她已找到附近防空洞的位置，并为家里每位成员准备了装有电池、手电筒和食物的“应急包”。

2022年，台北举行了一场支持乌克兰的集会。

In the private sector, ties continue to grow. Taiwan has become what Ukrainian drone producers describe as a “gateway for Chinese parts.” Even after China tightened direct sales to Ukraine — a move that Ukrainian officials attributed to Beijing’s ties to Moscow — some components remained for sale in Taiwan, drone manufacturers said.

在私营部门，双方联系持续深化。台湾已成为乌克兰无人机生产商口中的“中国零部件转运枢纽”。乌克兰无人机制造商表示，即便在中国收紧对乌直接销售之后——乌克兰官员将此归因于北京与莫斯科的关系——部分零部件在台湾仍可购得。

Taiwanese companies often route sales to Ukraine through Eastern Europe. Taiwan exported 70,372 drones to the Czech Republic and 31,711 to Poland in 2025, said Samara Duerr, a national security analyst at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology, a research organization in Taiwan backed by the Taiwanese government. Most ultimately wound up in Ukraine, she said, many through donations from charitable organizations to the Ukrainian Army.

台湾企业通常通过东欧国家向乌克兰转运产品。台湾政府支持的研究机构——科技、民主与社会研究中心的国家安全分析师李希希(Samara Duerr)表示，2025年台湾向捷克出口了70372架无人机，向波兰出口了31711架。她说，其中大部分最终都流向了乌克兰，许多是通过慈善组织捐赠给乌克兰军队的。

The business connections go both ways. In Taiwan, international defense contractors market drone models to the military as battle-tested in Ukraine, but not sold directly by Ukrainian manufacturers. Taiwanese manufacturers have also sent drones to Ukraine for testing, said Gene Su, the general manager of Thunder Tiger, a major drone company in Taichung, a city in central Taiwan.

这种商业联系是双向的。在台湾，国际防务承包商向军方推销无人机型号时，经常强调这些产品已经在乌克兰战场上经过实战检验，但这些产品并非由乌克兰制造商直接销售。台中的大型无人机企业雷虎科技总经理苏圣杰表示，台湾制造商也把无人机送往乌克兰进行测试。

International defense contractors have asked Ukrainian engineers to devise specific designs tailored to Taiwan’s needs.

一些国际防务承包商还要求乌克兰工程师设计专门针对台湾需求的方案。

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Oleksandr Mashchenko converted his successful wakeboard business into a maker of sea drones, sold under the brand name Strug. An industry contact later asked him to look into maritime drone systems to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.

俄罗斯入侵乌克兰之后，奥列克桑德尔·马什琴科把自己原本有声有色的滑水板生意，转型为海上无人机制造商，品牌名为Strug。一位业内人士随后跟他联络，请其研究用于抵御中国入侵台湾的海上无人机系统。

He told the contact that Ukraine could help. Taiwan needs defenses that extend well into the strait separating it from China. That, Mr. Mashchenko said, could involve underwater drones or surface drone platforms armed with interceptors. Ukraine has fielded similar systems in the Black Sea.

他告诉这位联系人，乌克兰可以提供帮助。台湾需要能够延伸到台湾海峡的防御体系。马什琴科表示，这可能涉及水下无人机或配备拦截装置的水面无人机平台——乌克兰已在黑海部署了类似系统。

4月，台中，大型无人机企业雷虎科技旗下的实验室里，工作人员正在研发无人机零部件。

Soren Monroe-Anderson, the chief executive of an American drone maker, Neros, said his company was testing 100 drones in Taiwan that are based on designs developed in Ukraine. Neros has an office in Ukraine and is exploring opening production in Taiwan, he said.

美国无人机制造商Neros的首席执行官索伦·门罗-安德森表示，他的公司正在台湾测试100架基于乌克兰开发设计的无人机。他还说，Neros在乌克兰设有办公室，并正在考虑在台湾建生产基地的可能性。

“Our goal is to get capability developed in Ukraine to Taiwan and produce there in large quantities,” Mr. Monroe-Anderson said.

“我们的目标是将乌克兰研发的作战能力带到台湾，并在那里大规模生产，”门罗-安德森说。

Lorenz Meier, the chief executive of Auterion, another U.S. defense technology firm with operations in Ukraine, signed a cooperation agreement last year with a Taiwanese research institution. The targeting software that his company codes is used extensively, and constantly refined, on the Ukrainian battlefield.

另一家在乌克兰开展业务的美国国防科技公司Auterion的首席执行官洛伦茨·迈尔，去年与一家台湾研究机构签署了合作协议。他公司开发的目标锁定软件，已经被广泛应用于乌克兰战场，并在实战中不断改进。

And in March, one of Ukraine’s largest defense start-ups, General Cherry, announced a partnership with an American company, Wilcox, that will produce General Cherry-designed drones in the United States. Wilcox sells its products in Taiwan.

今年3月，乌克兰最大的国防初创企业之一General Cherry宣布与美国公司Wilcox建立合作关系，将在美国生产由General Cherry设计的无人机。而Wilcox的产品也销往台湾。

Ukraine is eager to deepen partnerships around the world, and it recently signed security agreements with three Middle Eastern nations. But as the spread of Ukrainian-designed technology occurs beyond the control of Ukraine’s government, it has been a sore spot.

乌克兰热切希望深化与世界各国的合作关系，最近还与三个中东国家签署了安全协议。但随着乌克兰设计的技术逐渐扩散到政府控制范围之外，这也成为一个棘手的问题。

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine does not want Ukrainian-designed drones to be sold abroad merely as pieces of hardware. Instead, he is encouraging Ukrainian companies to offer subscriptions — to devices, software updates and the services of remote pilots in Ukraine. Such deals, Ukrainian leaders believe, would lead to more long-term security agreements with other countries.

乌克兰总统泽连斯基不希望乌克兰设计的无人机仅仅作为硬件产品在海外销售。相反，他鼓励乌克兰企业提供订阅服务——包括设备、软件更新，以及乌克兰远程飞手提供的操作服务。乌克兰领导层认为，这类合作将有助于与其他国家建立更长期的安全合作关系。

He told journalists in March that he knew of at least 10 production facilities that had sprung up abroad where international defense companies and some Ukrainian firms were making Ukrainian-designed drones. A senior Ukrainian official and a defense industry representative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, said one such factory was in Taiwan.

他在3月曾对记者表示，他知道至少有10个海外生产基地已经建立起来，由国际国防公司和一些乌克兰企业生产乌克兰设计的无人机。两名要求匿名的乌克兰高级官员和国防工业代表在谈及这一敏感问题时表示，其中一家工厂就在台湾。