CNN: Ukraine's AI drones succeed in disrupting Russian energy industry

Ukraine intensifies coordinated efforts to target Russian oil refineries with long-range drones.

These daring Ukrainian strikes are hitting Russia’s massive oil and gas industry, which despite Western import bans and price caps has remained the biggest source of revenue for Moscow’s war economy.

The attacks have been made possible by the use of drones with longer ranges and more advanced capabilities, some of which have even begun to integrate a basic form of artificial intelligence to help them navigate and avoid being jammed, a source close to Ukraine’s drone program told CNN.

“Accuracy under jamming is enabled through the use of artificial intelligence. Each aircraft has a terminal computer with satellite and terrain data,” the source explained. “The flights are determined in advance with our allies, and the aircraft follow the flight plan to enable us to strike targets with meters of precision.”

That precision is made possible by the drone’s sensors.

Ukraine's minister for digital transformation, Mykhaylo Fedorov, has said that the armed forces have drone models capable of flying more than 1,000km.

Ukraine says 12% of Russian refining capacity is now offline, while Reuters calculates it’s up to 14%. Russia has admitted some of its refining capacity is down and has temporarily banned exports of gasoline to avoid an increase in domestic fuel prices.

“These weeks have demonstrated to many that the Russian war machine has vulnerabilities that we can reach with our weapons,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this month after a string of these attacks.

“What our own drones are capable of is a true Ukrainian long-range capability. Ukraine will now always have a strike force in the sky.”