By Olha Hembik | 2025-05-27

WARSAW -- Ukraine is turning battlefield tech into battlefield strategy.

From artificial intelligence (AI)-guided drones to real-time data analysis, Kyiv is fusing AI with military operations to plan smarter, strike faster and stay ahead. While Russia relies on mass and attrition, Ukraine is building a warfighting model wired for precision and adaptability.

At the 2025 UK-Ukraine Defense Tech Forum in London, former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhny called AI development "the top priority," saying its rapid integration into planning, targeting and autonomous systems could redefine how modern wars are fought.

"It is obvious that the speed of implementing AI technologies on the battlefield, especially in managing complex processes in the fields of intelligence, planning, control, fire destruction [namely, destruction by gunfire], as well as autonomous combat systems (without human control), will provide a qualitative and quantitative advantage," said Zaluzhny, now Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, according to an April 25 report in Ukrainska Pravda.

Meanwhile, Russia itself is leveraging AI, primarily in cyberwarfare: deploying bot farms, "phishing" campaigns and deepfakes with notable success.

Digital minds and drones

AI is no longer experimental but a decisive force shaping modern warfare, according to US-based AI analyst Nikita Gladkikh. AI's role in military operations is expanding rapidly, particularly through its integration in unmanned systems used by Ukraine's armed forces, he told Kontur.

Gladkikh pointed out computer vision and autonomous navigation as the key AI components powering these systems. Automatic target recognition, for instance, enables drones to process live video and detect camouflaged targets, even when operators are fatigued.

"These models are trained on large image datasets, including frontline data," he said.

To navigate under electronic warfare conditions, drones employ visual-inertial systems that align real-time imagery with preloaded terrain maps. This significantly enhances their accuracy and resilience. In some cases, first-person view (FPV) drone success rates have reportedly jumped from 10–20% to 70–80%, a development Gladkikh attributes to machine learning's adaptive capacity.

"[Ukrainian forces] often fine-tune open-source models with classified combat data and use onboard encryption to prevent unauthorized replication," he noted.

Ukraine also deploys Anduril's Altius drones, which can operate autonomously or in swarms.

"This is especially relevant for high-speed kamikaze drones, where human response times are too long for maneuvering and responding adequately. And of course, for drones that have lost connection with the operator because of electronic warfare," Kvertus CEO Yaroslav Filimonov told Kontur.

While Ukraine is advancing rapidly in AI integration, full drone swarm control remains a technical hurdle.

Current limitations in processing power and hardware miniaturization and the need for stable radio communication make large-scale swarms infeasible in contested electromagnetic environments, Filimonov said.

"It's unclear where such processing could be based," he said. "It requires communication that is almost impossible under active electronic warfare."

A race on both sides

AI is shaping both tactics and the broader information landscape of the war, with Russia and Ukraine deploying it in increasingly sophisticated ways.

Ukraine's command and targeting systems now heavily rely on AI-powered platforms like Delta and solutions from Palantir. These tools synthesize data from satellites, drones, open-source intelligence and human reports to provide a real-time operational picture.

"This allows for real-time situational awareness and informed decision-making," said Gladkikh. The Avengers system, integrated with Delta, automatically analyzes video feeds from drones and ground cameras to identify enemy assets, reportedly up to 12,000 targets per week, he said.

Artillery coordination is similarly enhanced through digital tools like GIS Arta and Kropyva. FPV drones such as Ukraine's Saker Scout and allied-supplied Skydio X10D and Shield AI V-BAT rely on advanced computer vision and navigation systems.

"This allows them to autonomously identify targets, avoid obstacles and continue executing missions even under active electronic warfare," said Gladkikh.

For identification tasks, Ukraine uses facial recognition technologies, including those from Clearview AI.

Ukrainian forces are focused on large-scale machine processing of battlefield data to support pattern detection, forecasting and automated defense, according to Filimonov.

"This enables the deployment of counter-drone ecosystems incorporating signals intelligence and electronic warfare tools like Atlas," he said.

Despite technological and sanctions-related constraints, Russia continues to advance its own AI capabilities. Russian companies have developed large language models such as Sberbank's GigaChat and Yandex's Yar.AI, which the Kremlin is leveraging, said Gladkikh.

"They are being successfully used in information operations," he said.

On the battlefield, Russian drones like the Lancet and Orlan-10 have been upgraded with automated guidance systems, while newer models, such as Ovod-S and BONS, incorporate machine vision. These systems can function independently of the Global Positioning System or of radio communication, Gladkikh explained.

Weaponizing information

Unlike Ukraine's defensive and tactical applications of AI, Russia prioritizes its use for information warfare, according to Gladkikh. The Kremlin runs large-scale disinformation campaigns involving satellite websites, automated bot networks on platforms like Telegram and AI-generated deepfakes, he said.

One prominent example was the fake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly telling his troops to surrender in March 2022. The video aired after Russian hackers breached Ukraine 24 and Segodnya.

Moscow continuously refines its tactics and channels, Polish analyst Dominik Gąsiorowski, who tracks Russian propaganda strategies, said in an interview with Kontur.

"We are powerless against it, because the Russians don't play by the rules," he said, contrasting Russia's media control with Europe's open information environment.

"It's like one team playing by the rules, while the other shows up with clubs and chains," Gąsiorowski added. In fighting propaganda with AI tools, the priority should be "to focus on Russian influence agents" and shut down their disinformation channels, he said.