Ukraine War Speeds Race Toward Fully Autonomous Drones — SkimNews
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- A Ukrainian first-person-view drone struck a probable Russian tank in November 2025 using an AI-assisted guidance system after its communications link was disrupted, with a human operator selecting the target and the drone guiding the final attack stages.
- Russian V2U drones recovered in late 2025 contained an onboard Nvidia computer running AI-enabled decision-making software and no external communications systems, enabling the aircraft to autonomously select and engage targets after launch.
- Russia struck a gas station in Zaporizhzhia in July with an AI-enabled drone, killing three Ukrainian civilians; human operators selected the gas station as the target area while onboard software independently picked the final aim point.
- Russia is integrating AI guidance into its Geran-series drones — based on Iran's delta-wing Shaheed-136 — allowing onboard computers to steer the final flight phase after a human initially selects the target.
- Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in July that Ukraine used a drone in Russian-occupied Crimea that autonomously chose targets with no radio connection to a human pilot, though he noted it has not been mass-produced.
- Doctrinal frames diverge: Ukrainian Ministry of Defense rules require humans to verify targets in the final stages of interception, while Russia's arms-control language emphasizes the ability to alter or deactivate systems without requiring pre-strike human verification.
Why it matters: Russia's doctrinal silence on requiring human target verification — combined with V2U variants that already lack operator-control links — means Moscow may be the first state actor to cross the threshold into fully autonomous lethal targeting on a battlefield already killing civilians, while Kyiv's formal rules still demand a human in the loop.
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