- Ukraine’s Defense AI Center chief says AI is essential to survival against Russia’s larger forces.
- Land drones completed 20,000 missions in three months, including one attack without human soldiers.
- A networked battlefield with coordinated smart weapons could arrive within three to five years.
Danylo Tsvok, the 35-year-old head of Ukraine’s newly established Defense Artificial Intelligence Center, says rapid AI adoption is becoming essential to the country’s survival. The center launched last month to accelerate military AI integration, with Tsvok moving from his previous role as the government’s top civilian AI officer.
Ukraine faces a larger, better-resourced adversary in Russia, making speed in decision-making a critical advantage. “We need to be faster than the enemy in decision-making,” said Tsvok in an interview with The Associated Press. “AI is not only a competitive advantage. It’s about our survival.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that land drones supported more than 20,000 battlefield missions over a three-month period this year, including medical evacuations, supply runs, and direct combat. Among those missions was a successful attack carried out without any human soldiers on the ground.
The AI Arms Race on the Frontlines
Ukraine and Russia are locked in an intensifying race to deploy increasingly automated systems, from aerial drones to ground and maritime platforms. The center of that race is the ability to maintain operations under heavy electronic warfare, with newer systems designed to shift toward autonomous functionality that maintains target focus even under hostile jamming.
Ukraine’s rapidly expanding domestic arms sector now includes more than 2,000 manufacturers and military technology firms. Developers are testing tools that enable coordinated drone swarms, aiming to boost efficiency while easing the burden on human operators. “We need to understand that the future belongs to autonomous systems,” said Tsvok. “AI makes it possible to automate parts of the kill chain.”
In its more mature form, AI could underpin a networked battlefield where smart weapons operate in coordination under a unified assessment platform. “That could happen within three to five years,” said Tsvok. “Within that time frame, front lines could be secured by tightly integrated hardware and software systems.”
Not Killer Robots, But Efficient Systems
Tsvok insisted the objective is not fully autonomous “killer robots,” but a more coordinated system that accelerates decision-making and integrates more closely with Western partners. “It’s not about reaching 100% autonomy, it’s about being efficient on the battlefield,” said Tsvok.
Ukraine is deepening partnerships with Western allies and Gulf states to secure funding, scale production, and embed itself in security alliances, while also opening access to its extensive battlefield data. Tsvok’s department receives financial support from the U.K. Ministry of Defence—a relationship he described as both militarily and politically significant.
Ukrainian Armor and Fourth Law recently unveiled the UB60D FPV drone equipped with the TFL-1 autonomous targeting system, which increases strike effectiveness by 2-4 times. The system enables the drone to automatically acquire and track targets, ensuring precise strikes even in the event of a complete loss of communication with the operator at the final stage of an attack.
The Defense Artificial Intelligence Center was established by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in March 2026.
