Ukraine sees use of uncrewed ground vehicles, AI-targeting drones surging next year

By Tom Balmforth

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine will need tens of thousands of uncrewed robotic ground vehicles next year to shuttle ammunition and supplies to 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 operating in areas near the front where Russian shelling and drones are rife, Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.

"This year we purchased several thousand ground platforms, and next year, I believe, we need tens of thousands," the minister, who has overseen drone procurement for most of the war, said in an interview.

The vehicles, he said, are already being used along the front and in Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv's troops carved out an enclave in an August incursion. Ukraine has several training centres to teach their use, he added.

The use of military technology has rapidly evolved, even as the war has been locked in a bloody, attritional struggle with no major battlefield changes despite Russia's recently accelerating gains 33 months since the 2022 invasion.

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

Ukraine has focused heavily on increasing production and improving the specifications of long-range attack drones to conduct deep strikes on Russia, narrowing the gulf in capabilities with its adversary.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Ukrainian production of long-range drones has increased dozens of times since 2023, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy targeting output of 30,000 of the deep-strike weapons next year, Fedorov said.

Russia has been launching thousands of long-range drones per month, making heavy use of low-cost "decoy" drones that wear down Ukraine's air defence forces, which see a blip on the radar and are forced to shoot it down.

Fedorov said Ukraine was also using decoy drones and was sometimes launching more attack drones on a given night than Russia, but it was not purely a numbers game.

"[AI is] used to some extent, but the more critical issues are connectivity and launch methods of deep strike (drones)," he said.

"Russia has improved monitoring of (Ukraine's) drone launches, quickly responding and targeting launch sites. These nuances require constant launch method and connectivity changes."

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

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

"There is some testing by certain companies producing ... aircraft that, thanks to specialised software and radars, can strike Shaheds, but this is still in the research and development phase. There are certain results," he said.

He said Ukraine had contracted to buy 1.6 million drones this year, of which 1.3 million had been supplied, including low-cost "first person view" (FPV) drones that have cameras allowing remote pilots to fly them towards their targets.

Ukraine has also been using dozens of domestically made artificial intelligence-augmented systems for its drones to reach targets on the battlefield without being piloted, allowing it to remain effective in areas protected by extensive jamming.

Fedorov said 10 companies were consistently competing in state procurements to offer AI products.

"I think next year will significantly increase the percentage of autonomous drones with targeting," he said. "We might see the first real drone swarm uses, though not on a massive scale. The first steps will happen."

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by David Holmes)