Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced a private-sector push for a robot army, emphasizing the shift toward full battlefield robotics. He shared the figure at IT Arena 2026 in Lviv, highlighting the rapid adoption of drones in combat. Ukraine now has more than 700 drone manufacturers, though he did not specify the time period or operations covered.
The country has long been a testing ground for AI-powered warfare, especially drones. AI combat data from these operations has become an export product, with the UK as the first buyer. Fedorov's initiative reflects how the Ukraine war has reshaped public conversation around military robotics.
Fedorov's project would run on an ecosystem of private defense tech firms. He plans to invest in companies, launch his own tech projects, and test working systems with the military at scale. "Robots should fight, not people," he wrote on Telegram, underscoring his vision for autonomous combat.
The announcement shows how the Ukraine war has reshaped the public conversation around military robotics. While nations debate limits on autonomous weapons at the UN, Fedorov openly calls for "full-scale battlefield robotisation," supported by a militaristic trailer and an "Army of Robots" website.
Fedorov's push doubles as psychological warfare, meant to intimidate Russia and attract investors. The humanoid robots in the trailer are nowhere near as battle-ready as drones and may not make military sense at all. Still, the leap from UN ban talks to a private combat robot initiative shows how fast the ground has shifted on autonomous weapons.
Whether those robots would also make attack decisions on their own remains unclear, though with drones, that's reportedly already happening. The announcement follows UN talks on killer robots, as the source itself frames the significance of the shift in military strategy.
Source: thedecoder
