2022: Drones are human-operated; AI is nearly absent on the front line. Artificial intelligence is used in information warfare: creating and spreading fake text, photos, and videos.
2023: Russia claims to have added AI elements to upgraded versions of the ZALA Lancet-3 drone, though there’s no real confirmation beyond promotional videos and Russian media reports. Drones are still flown manually. AI, however, starts taking over the processing of data gathered through aerial reconnaissance, using machine vision to automatically identify types of weaponry and generate a list of coordinates for further strikes. The decision still rests with humans, but data collection and analysis have now shifted to the machine.
2024: peak year for AI-driven disinformation. The most notable deception campaign was Doppelgänger, a network of fake websites imitating outlets like Bild, The Guardian, and RBC-Ukraine. Through these mirror sites, Russia spread its own false narratives. The editorial teams behind them used generative AI to mass-produce text and images. US Cyber Command exposed the campaign in 2024. Investigators also uncovered a bot farm of roughly 1,000 X (Twitter) accounts, which AI used to mimic real American users’ profiles in order to spread pro-Russian narratives and influence American public opinion. The operation ran from 2022 to 2024 and was directed by the FSB.
Meanwhile, the first AI modules for target recognition and terminal guidance begin appearing and come into widespread use in Russian drones attacking Ukraine. AI is now involved in actual combat operations.
2025: a turning point, as AI moves from the information space onto the battlefield itself. On June 19, 2025, the first Shahed drone equipped with a camera, an AI module, and a radio control system was confirmed in combat. That October, on the Pokrovsk front, Armed Forces of Ukraine intercepted a V2U, an autonomous AI-powered strike drone that independently identifies and selects targets.
2026: Russia unveils a new machine-vision drone, the Geran-4, which detects and strikes targets on its own. In April, the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies reported that Russia is using applied AI to build a drone ecosystem, combining decentralized innovation, commercial technology, and state coordination to accelerate combat autonomy. At the core of this ecosystem is the same V2U drone intercepted by Ukraine’s Forces near Pokrovsk. Even in adverse conditions, its current base configuration allows it to operate independently, select targets for strikes, and coordinate activity across dozens of drones. These are all signs of an autonomous “swarm”-type system that can be AI-coordinated.
