Ukraine's Future Vision and Current Capabilities for Waging AI-Enabled Autonomous Warfare

Ukraine’s Future Vision and Current Capabilities for Waging AI-Enabled Autonomous Warfare 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 Skip to main content
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 Ukraine’s Future Vision and Current Capabilities for Waging AI-Enabled Autonomous Warfare 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 Photo: Anton Petrus/GETTY IMAGES

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 Table of Contents
 

 

 
 Table of Contents

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 Report
 by 
 
 Kateryna Bondar 
 
 
 

 Published March 6, 2025

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 Available Downloads
 

 
 
 
 Download the Full Report 
 3663kb 
 

 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Remote Visualization 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 On the battlefield I did not see a single Ukrainian soldier. Only drones. I saw them [Ukrainian soldiers] only when I surrendered. Only drones, and there are lots and lots of them. Guys, don’t come. It’s a drone war. 

 
 — Surrendered Russian soldier 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 Executive Summary

 This paper examines how Ukraine is advancing AI-driven unmanned systems to reduce direct warfighter involvement while enhancing combat effectiveness. Although fully autonomous warfare remains an aspiration, significant progress has already been made in partial autonomy—particularly for aerial systems—while human oversight remains critical in engagement decisions. 

 Key Findings 

 The Ukrainian military’s objective is to remove warfighters from direct combat and replace them with autonomous unmanned systems. This goal reflects the need to conserve a limited human force and overcome vulnerabilities such as fatigue, stress, and the limited capacity to process and fuse large amounts of data from various sources and sensors. Although not yet formalized into a written strategy, this vision unifies Ukraine’s military and defense industry around the adoption, acquisition, and rapid deployment of advanced technologies—including AI-enabled capabilities—and the expansion of unmanned systems.
 Autonomy—defined by the U.S. military as a system’s ability to accomplish goals independently or with minimal supervision in complex and unpredictable environments—is not yet present on the battlefield in the war in Ukraine. The primary reason for this is that the necessary technology—AI in particular—has not reached the required level of development. Additionally, Ukraine has no formal legislative or policy definition for “autonomy” or “autonomous weapons systems.” As a result, the Ukrainian military uses the term “autonomous systems” interchangeably with “unmanned systems,” or platforms equipped with basic autonomous functions such as navigation or targeting.
 The current deployment of AI is partial in scop

... (truncated, 98 KB total)