Ukraine wants to develop AI for drone swarms, 'cheap' missiles, Fedorov says

Ukraine seeks to involve weapons manufacturers in developing AI for drone swarms and "cheap missiles" to counter Russian kamikaze drones, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said at the Globsec Forum in Prague on Aug. 30, as reported by a Kyiv Independent reporter.

Throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine and Russia have heavily invested in drone technology, revolutionizing modern warfare.

According to Fedorov, Ukrainian soldiers now face numerous challenges, including Russian equipment and infantry, ammunition shortages, kamikaze drones, and reconnaissance drones.

Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov at the Globsec forum in Prague, Czechia, on Aug. 30, 2024. (Ray Baseley/The Kyiv Independent)

In response, Ukrainian forces are employing low-cost first-person-view (FPV) drones, reconnaissance drones, small air defense systems, and domestically produced long-range drones to strike Russian targets, Fedorov said.

"What are the next challenges where we need your help? How to invent effective laser guidance, how to develop AI for swarms of drones, how to produce Ukrainian HIMARS, how to develop cheap Ukrainian missiles to shoot down Shaheds?" Fedorov said.

"I think we can succeed only together. We can work together and invent. We can produce together."

Kyiv has the capacity to manufacture more than three million drones annually but needs financing from foreign partners, Deputy Strategic Industries Minister Hanna Hvozdiar said.

‘The goal should be strategic defeat of Russia’ – Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds

Editor’s note: The transcript of this interview has been edited for clarity. Latvia has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since the start of the all-out war. Sharing a border with both Russia and its ally Belarus, the small Baltic country understands Ukraine’s struggle all too well. As

The Kyiv IndependentChris York