“This technology is our future threat,” says Serhiy Beskrestnov as he examines a newly seized Russian drone. It is not an ordinary machine. Equipped with artificial intelligence, it can identify and strike its targets without human help.
Beskrestnov, a consultant to Ukraine’s defence forces, has inspected many drones during the war. Yet this one is unique. It neither sends nor receives radio signals, making it impossible to jam or trace.
Both Russia and Ukraine now compete to develop advanced AI tools for the battlefield. They use them to find enemy positions, analyse intelligence and remove mines faster than ever before.
Artificial intelligence becomes Ukraine’s secret weapon
For Ukraine’s military, AI is no longer a luxury—it is essential. “Our army receives more than 50,000 video feeds from the front line every month,” says Deputy Defence Minister Yuriy Myronenko. “Artificial intelligence analyses the footage, identifies targets and plots them on a map.”
The technology allows commanders to make rapid decisions, use resources efficiently and reduce casualties. But its impact extends further. Ukrainian troops now use drones with AI-powered software that can lock onto a target and then fly the last few hundred metres autonomously.
Such drones are extremely difficult to jam or shoot down. Experts predict that in time, these systems will evolve into fully autonomous weapons capable of searching for and eliminating targets on their own.
The next phase of drone warfare
“All a soldier will need to do is press a button on a smartphone,” says Yaroslav Azhnyuk, CEO of Ukrainian tech company The Fourth Law. “The drone will find the target, release explosives, assess the damage and return to base. It won’t even need piloting skills.”
This level of automation could transform Ukraine’s air defences against Russia’s long-range attack drones such as the Shaheds. “A computer-guided system can outperform a human,” Azhnyuk explains. “It can detect a target faster, act quicker and move more precisely.”
Myronenko admits that fully autonomous systems are still in development but says Ukraine is getting close. “We have already implemented parts of this technology in some devices,” he confirms. Azhnyuk believes thousands of these systems could be active by late 2026.
Between progress and peril
Not everyone in Ukraine’s tech sector supports full automation. Developers warn that AI can make fatal mistakes. “It might fail to tell a Ukrainian soldier from a Russian one,” says Vadym, a defence engineer who asked to remain anonymous. “They often wear the same uniform.”
Vadym’s company, DevDroid, produces remote-controlled machine guns that use AI to detect and track people. Yet due to the risk of friendly fire, they have disabled automatic firing. “We could activate it,” he says, “but we need more data from field operations to know when it’s safe.”
Moral and legal concerns add to the hesitation. Can AI-driven weapons follow the laws of war? Will they recognise civilians or surrendering soldiers? Myronenko insists a human must make the final call, even if AI speeds up the process. Still, there is no assurance that every military power will respect such principles.
A new kind of global arms race
AI’s growing role in warfare has triggered an unprecedented race for dominance. Traditional defences like jamming or missile interception may soon become useless against swarms of intelligent drones.
Ukraine’s “Spider Web” operation last June—when 100 drones struck Russian air bases—reportedly used AI coordination. Many Ukrainians now fear Moscow will copy the tactic, expanding it beyond the front lines.
President Volodymyr Zelensky recently told the United Nations that artificial intelligence is fuelling “the most destructive arms race in human history.” He urged world leaders to set global rules for AI in weapons, warning that the challenge is “as urgent as stopping the spread of nuclear arms.”
