Ukraine has developed drones that are capable of finding targets autonomously, a Ukrainian military leader has claimed, raising the prospect that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war could see the first confirmed use of'killer robots' in armed conflict. Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel Yaroslav Honchar gave details in an interview with Ukrainian news agency UNIAN on 13th October. Honchar is co-founder of Aerorozvidka ("Aerial Intelligence"), a team of around a thousand volunteer drone enthusiasts and technologists set up in 2014 to develop and use drones and other technology. Honchar says their drones already fly scout missions autonomously and mentions the possibility of automated strikes, but did not say such strikes had been carried out. Aerorozvidka declined to comment on the issue when asked by New Scientist.

One week into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia massed a 40-mile mechanised column in order to mount an overwhelming attack on Kyiv from the north. But the convoy of armoured vehicles and supply trucks ground to a halt within days, and the offensive failed, in significant part because of a series of night ambushes carried out by a team of 30 Ukrainian special forces and drone operators on quad bikes, according to a Ukrainian commander. The drone operators were drawn from an air reconnaissance unit, Aerorozvidka, which began eight years ago as a group of volunteer IT specialists and hobbyists designing their own machines and has evolved into an essential element in Ukraine's successful David-and-Goliath resistance. However, while Ukraine's western backers have supplied thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles and other military equipment, Aerorozvidka has been forced to resort to crowdfunding and a network of personal contacts in order to keep going, by getting hold of components such as advanced modems and thermal imaging cameras, in the face of export controls that prohibit them being sent to Ukraine. The unit's commander, Lt Col Yaroslav Honchar, gave an account of the ambush near the town of Ivankiv that helped stop the vast, lumbering Russian offensive in its tracks.