Former Ukraine Defense Minister defends use of robots as “new weapon”

O former Ukrainian Defense Minister today defended the use of autonomous weapons based on Artificial Intelligence (IA) on the battlefield, despite the operational and moral risks that the use of this type of weapon may pose.

“They are people who will define the objectives of the machines” and will be “our engineers and our military personnel who will shape these operational processes for robots and drones,” defended Mykhailo Fedorov, who today participated in CNN Portugal International Summit, an event that took place at the Estoril Congress Center in Cascais, Lisbon district.

Fedorov, after being dismissed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, from the post of Defense Minister, founded a defense company with the support of the US company Palantir, specializing in software and data analysis and highly linked to the military industry.

“ I think the AI, the autonomous drones are a new nuclear weapon, because they will protect democracy from totalitarian regimes,” he argued, arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin only invaded Ukraine because he thought he had some weapons and solutions that were more advanced than Kiev.

He therefore argued that it is important that “all democratic countries have their own advanced technology to protect their countries”.

Far from politics, Fedorov now seeks to invest in new companies that produce “humanoid robots” that can “replace infantry” on the battlefield.

“ There will be some unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) equipped with hands and some solutions, but our idea is to replace our infantry with this technology. Because, when we talk about people on the battlefield, these have three main functions,” he said.

These functions are, first of all, “identifying threats such as drones or Russian infantry, secondly, working this information, analyzing it and, thirdly, acting”, he explained.

“ The drones and robots can do the same: identify something with cameras and radars and that is why we will invest in these sensors to think with AI and analyze this information and then act with different hardware solutions,” he added.

When asked in the panel where he was talking about whether the European countries, which increased to a large extent their defence investments, were buying the right weaponry taking into account the characteristics of the current war, replied: “Of course not.”.

“ But if we talk about the trend, there's been a huge leap in the last four or five years. It is a new Europe”, he argued.

Nevertheless, based on their experience in Ukraine, companies based in the European Union (EU) still have little expression in the conflict.

Fedorov argued that Ukraine has supported several defence industry companies to grow and improve their products on the battlefield and one of them was the Portuguese Tekever.

“ I remember in 2022, when we helped Tekever succeed. We tested its products in Ukraine” and now, “thanks to Ukraine’s support in this test, this company has a high level of capitalisation, this company has a future”.

To improve the European arms industry, the former Ukrainian minister argued that “the EU and all Western countries must change their policies”.

The changes, continued, must go through the way they “develop, support, encourage and promote the development of defense companies in their countries.”.

Fedorov was dismissed from the position of Defense Minister in Ukraine in July this year and is now adviser to the Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, an announcement made by Ukrainian itself at the end of August, explaining that he would now help Italy “to develop technologies adapted to modern war.”.

The resignation generated a popular movement to support his return to the government.

“ We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even in the middle of a prolonged war,” said Fedorov on that occasion in a brief speech published on the YouTube platform.

The wave of protests in Ukraine extended and led Zelensky to replace also the army chief, Oleksandr Syrsky, justifying the decision with the need to maintain the country's unity in the face of public differences between the former minister and the military commander.