Ukraine’s use of unmanned ground vehicles and AI-targeting drones to rise sharply next year By Reuters

By Tom Balmforth

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine will need tens of thousands of unmanned robotic ground vehicles next year to carry ammunition and supplies for infantry in the trenches and evacuate wounded soldiers, a senior government minister told Reuters.

The buggy-like vehicles, an example of how technology is transforming trench warfare in Ukraine, would spare troops from having to operate in frontline areas where Russian fire and drones are widespread, Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.

“This year we bought several thousand ground platforms, and next year I think we will need tens of thousands,” the minister, who oversaw drone procurement during most of the war, said in an interview.

The vehicles, he said, are already in use at the front and in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kiev troops created an enclave in an incursion in August. Ukraine has several training centers where their use is taught, he added.

The use of military technology has evolved rapidly, even as the war was engaged in a bloody, attritional struggle and there were no major changes on the battlefield, although 33 months after the invasion in 2022, Russia has recently recorded increasingly rapid successes.

Fedorov, whose official portfolio is digital affairs, has played a prominent role in supporting the development of military technology through a government-backed platform to promote private sector innovation. As of this month, he is no longer responsible for drone procurement.

Ukraine has focused heavily on increasing production and improving specifications of long-range attack drones to carry out deep strikes on Russia, narrowing the capability gap with the adversary.

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Ukrainian production of long-range drones has increased a dozen-fold since 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelensky aiming to produce 30,000 of the deep-strike weapons next year, Fedorov said.

Russia launches thousands of long-range drones every month, making extensive use of low-cost “decoy” drones that wear down Ukraine’s air defense forces, who see a glitch on the radar and are forced to shoot it down.

Fedorov said Ukraine also uses decoy drones and sometimes launches more attack drones on a given night than Russia, but it is not a pure numbers game.

“(AI) is being used to some extent, but the more critical issues are connectivity and launch methods for depth attack (drones),” he said.

“Russia has improved the monitoring of (Ukraine’s) drone launches, can react quickly and target launch sites. These nuances require constant changes in launch method and connectivity.”

Ukraine has attack drones that can fly up to 1,800 km (1,120 miles), he said.

He also confirmed that Ukraine is working on drones to intercept the long-range Shahed attack drones that Russia uses for its night attacks on Ukrainian cities.

“There are some tests by certain companies that … produce aircraft capable of attacking Shaheds thanks to special software and radars, but these are still in the research and development phase. There are certain outcomes,” he said.

He said Ukraine had entered into a contract to purchase 1.6 million drones this year, of which 1.3 million had been delivered, including low-cost “first-person-view” (FPV) drones that have cameras with which remote-controlled pilots can fly them to their destinations.

Ukraine also uses dozens of domestically made artificial intelligence systems that allow its drones to reach targets on the battlefield without the need for piloting, allowing them to remain effective in areas protected by extensive jamming.

Fedorov said ten companies are constantly competing to offer AI products in government procurement.

“I think the share of autonomous drones with target acquisition will increase significantly next year,” he said. “We may see the first real drone swarm deployment, although not on a large scale. The first steps will happen.”