Ukraine Expands Use of Autonomous AI Drones Against Russia

Ukrainian military/DOK ISTIMEWA

JAKARTA - Ukraine plans to expand the use of operational autonomous drones based on artificial intelligence (AI) to fight Russian forces by the end of this year.

A representative of the Brave-1 government platform told Kyodo News that the move aims to improve the precision and target identification capabilities in offensive and defensive operations, as well as to help Ukraine seize the initiative against Russia, which is superior in the number of personnel.

AI-based unmanned aircraft are already being used in war, but this expansion includes more sophisticated drones that are fully autonomous in navigation.

However, a representative of Brave-1 - a platform tasked with developing defense technology strategies - emphasized that final control remains in human hands in accordance with international humanitarian law.

"Droneini is able to take off, sail, navigate to the target area, search, identify, and carry out combat missions without the pilot touching the controller," he explained as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, June 17.

He cited the use of autonomous interceptors in Kharkiv, which successfully destroyed enemy drones as proof of the application of autonomous technology to save lives.

The Ukrainian military will also expand its use of drones for both attack and interception, though the schedule and scale have not been disclosed.

Padronedinomi autonomy is considered crucial for long-distance flights above 100 kilometers, when communication and control are disrupted by distance and the curvature of the earth.

The Brave-1 representative added that AI-based autonomous weapons could be more "humanitarian" because their precise target recognition capabilities help prevent attacks on civilians, while reducing the impact of jamming or tracking signals by the Russian military.

Regarding the extent to which Ukraine hopes to expand the attack zone in Russian territory - which is now about 20 km from the border - iamenjawab with the development of technology, they hope to make the whole of Russia an attack zone.

Ukraine is also building an ecosystem that allows friendly countries to train AI models using real combat data. Another representative of Brave-1 said his party hopes to deepen cooperation with Japan. Both representatives spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.