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Ukraine holds vast trove of wartime data

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Kyiv using AI for reconnaissance, pattern recognition

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Minister says up to 90% of battlefield kills done with

drones

By Max Hunder

KYIV, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Ukraine is looking at how to

share battlefield data with allies, the country's deputy prime

minister said, calling the vast trove of stored information one

of Kyiv's "cards" to strengthen its position as it negotiates

support from friendly countries.

"The data we have is priceless for any country," Mykhailo

Fedorov, who heads Ukraine's digitalisation ministry, told

Reuters in an interview, adding that Ukraine is currently "very

careful" about sharing it.

Vast datasets are crucial for training artificial

intelligence (AI) models to recognise patterns and make

predictions.

That need is particularly pressing in the burgeoning global

defence sector. While datasets for most civilian activities can

be found commercially, the 21st century's biggest war between

advanced armies has given Ukraine a set of combat data with no

parallel, which could help Kyiv prove its value as an ally to

Washington.

Since Russia launched its 2022 invasion, Ukraine has

collected reams of meticulously logged battlefield statistics.

And with the war increasingly fought by drones, it now has

millions of hours of combat footage filmed from the air.

"I think this is one of the 'cards', as our colleagues and

partners say, to build win-win relations," Fedorov said, an

apparent nod to U.S. President Donald Trump, who told Ukraine's

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a disastrous Oval Office

meeting in February that "you don't have the cards".

"The demand for the data is incredibly high, but at the

moment we are forming policy how to organise this process

correctly," Fedorov said.

Ukraine has also sought to position itself as a testing

ground for international defence companies, inviting them to try

out new weapons in Ukraine. Fedorov said that nearly 1,000

applications had been received so far, and 50 different products

were "coming to Ukraine".

Ukraine now uses AI to help pilot drones, including several

of its systems used for long-range attacks deep inside Russia,

Fedorov said. Computers can scan detailed aerial and satellite

reconnaissance imagery for targets which would take a human

"dozens of hours" to find, he said.

Fedorov said work was ongoing on systems which would

make drones fully autonomous, which would allow them to fly

without a pilot and work in swarms.

AI TECHNOLOGY

He added that Ukraine was using AI technology from U.S.

data analysis firm Palantir ( PLTR ) for a wide variety of

purposes, such as analysing Russian strikes on Ukraine for

patterns or tracking Moscow's disinformation campaigns. Palantir ( PLTR )

was founded by U.S. billionaire Peter Thiel, a figure

influential among members of the Trump administration.

Not all Ukraine's uses of Palantir ( PLTR ) are military: the

minister said it also helped to decide where to build bomb-proof

underground schools, or which territories to prioritise in

demining efforts.

These days, between 80% and 90% of Russian targets struck on

the battlefield are now destroyed with drones, Fedorov said.

That is an increase from 2024, when nearly 70% of troops and

75% of vehicles hit by Ukraine were struck with drones.

Fedorov, who is seen as an ally of President Volodymyr

Zelenskiy, has at the age of 34 already served for five years as

the minister in charge of Ukraine's digitalisation effort, which

has led him to be heavily involved in Ukraine's search for

innovative defence technologies to beat back its richer and

better armed foe.

As part of this, his ministry has been operating a video

game-style points system for confirmed kills or the destruction

of Russian vehicles and equipment.

Those points can then be exchanged for drones, electronic

signal jammers and other weapon systems on a sleek, Amazon-style

marketplace, while units are ranked on monthly leaderboards.

Fedorov said that since the system was introduced a year

ago, about 500,000 drones had been handed out to units in

exchange for points.

"This stimulates units to kill more, to share data on the

basis of which decisions are later made about what is effective

and what is not."

Ukrainian troops now regularly speak of a 'kill zone' on

both sides of the front, where moving around in the open is

rendered almost impossible by the constant threat of drones.

Fedorov estimated that this zone now stretched about 10-15

km from the front line, and that it could reach as far as 20 km

in the next year.

Fedorov said that operating in such an environment was

"hellish work".

As a result, he said Ukraine is now using several thousand

unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) on the battlefield to bring in

ammunition and supplies to soldiers holding the frontline in

dugouts.