Interview: Former Ukraine defense minister launches 'Army of Robots' initiative

Since his ouster as Ukraine's Minister of Defense

Mikhailo Fedorov has not been idle when it comes to continuing to fight Russian forces

The former official announced a new initiative recently, called the Army of Robots

that looks to deploy all manner of deadly drones to fight future battles

Fedorov announced the effort at the recent IT Arena conference in Lviv, Ukraine

and paired his speech with an eye-popping trailer for his concept. Warfare is changing, but the most valuable resource is still human life

The real advantage is sending robots where people face the greatest risk

That's why we are building an army of robots. Just imagine, robotic systems control the battlefield 24-7

Sensors detect movement, sound, and the smallest changes in the environment. Different types of robots respond to threats before they reach people

Robots intercept the enemy. Defend against attacks Destroy targets Move on to enemy positions first

People control the systems from a safe distance and enter the cleared position only when it is safe

Yeah, it sounds like the war of the future, but we are already there

And we are starting to build the army of robots today For a long time, strength belonged to those with more people

Today, strength belongs to those who know how to save lives We spoke with Fedorov at the conference to learn more about how he sees the future of warfare

So, you were just on the stage talking about the new Army of Robots initiative. Can you tell us about that

Yeah, it will be our key direction for a new company. and we are going to create an ecosystem which will allow us to have some drones, robots for our first line in a short period of time

And our idea is to involve a lot of different startups, companies, venture capital to transform these assets and energy into robots

And you know that we launched the army of drones four years ago and it changed everything in our country and in the war And I think in the future of all the wars

And it will be our new project and we have ambitions to substitute our infantry and our people with these new monoid robots and different types of robots

And I think it's inevitable and we will do it. It's the future of warfare

Yes. And so would you say it's different than the Army of Drones or it's really a continuation of it

It's about physical AI, about hardware, about humanoid robots. And the logic of this project will be similar as we had in the Army of Drones

We will create an infrastructure and ecosystem that will allow us to implement this project

Can you tell us what timeline we're looking at? We are going to eliminate the first Russian or Russian equipment in six months

Wow, that's fast. Yes, yes, yes. And maybe the first assault operation in one year

But we don't have enough time. We need to seize the initiative in this technological cycle

and we stopped Russians at the battlefield and of course Russia if Russia thinks about a new

strategy how to hack our front line and we need we have to be the first side who

hacks our front line and it could be robots it could be autonomous systems and we will have

three key directions. It's sensors and robots, it's a cheap anti-jet-sheet missiles and the third direction it will be AI strike drones and missiles

Today we are speaking only about robots and sensors and we launched this

project but the second and the third directions will be connected with other

directions. Also anti-ballistic development? I think it's inevitable too and we know a few projects that are very interesting for us but it will be the following stages of development of our new company New company And so the business side your companies are just one of the elements that you are now

focusing on since you've left the Ministry of Defense. Yeah, I think we found the key how to hack Russians

And we have our own doctrine, Air Land Economy. It's our worst strategy and I implemented this strategy since 2023 when I was the Minister

of Digital Transformations and I became the Minister of Defense. And now as a private person I want to gather the best team, I want to raise venture capital

into our new companies and to continue to create new products that will allow Ukraine

to defeat Russia. And it will be very interesting for Western investors

because it's connected. The result of the battlefield has a direct connection

with capitalization of these products. And I think we have the best expertise in the world

how to do it, and we'll do it. How can America help

And your initiative and Ukraine's push at the moment. I think the fact that the whole Western world is with Ukraine, it's our competitive advantage against Russia

But I don't see a lot of engineers and big tech companies in Ukraine, to be honest

Of course, we get the support with money, with cloud and with different directions

but we need to involve your smart brains to this war and to defeat Russia in every ecological cycle

You are the country that launched the best technologies and invented the best technologies in the world

And it's very important to combine our understanding of the war and your expertise your engineers your smart brains and to defeat Russia in the new technological cycle Right Because this is intimately tied with the global economy Yeah and the new technological cycle will be very important for this war because Russia

copies our experiences in this war. Russia learned how to predict new technologies and how to scale these technologies

It's very dangerous, not only for Ukraine, but for the USA and for the whole world

And that's why I believe that your country will support us with your best engineers

your best big tech companies, and with your capital. And I believe that everything will be okay

I believe I remember talking about the fund that you're going to start and some economic

goals for that with unicorns and whatnot. Yeah, I think our fund will be a corporate fund, a part of our defense company

Of course, and maybe then we will launch VC fund. But we have some technological gap in our product line

For example, we need to invent a new cheap missile against jet Shahids, against cruise missiles

It should be available missile. That's why we want to launch a corporate fund as a part of our defense company

And we have 20-25 companies that we believe the future belongs to these companies

and we want to invest in these companies. Any last words for the American military audience

First of all, thank you for your support, because I can't imagine how we would live without your support

And it's very important for us that you are part of our big world team against Russia

But we need your support with new technology, with your engineers. And you need to invest your energy because it's not only the question of Ukraine

It's your question. It's about the future of this world. And please, let's start doing together new technological projects

And please, we need to defeat Russia in a new technological cycle