Ukraine
war briefing: Russian developers used AI to build ‘kamikaze’ attack drone
software, Anthropic says
Anthropic
also found that hackers used AI in attacks against targets in Ukrainian
government, military and diplomatic sectors. What we know on day 1,662
Guardian
staff and agencies
Sat 12
Sep 2026 03.12 BST
- A small team of likely freelance
developers in Russia used AI chatbot Claude to develop software for an
autonomous swarm of first-person-view “kamikaze” attack drones, including
terminal guidance, target selection and coordination between multiple
aircraft, according to Anthropic, the company that developed Claude. In a
154-page report describing how bad actors used its Claude AI system for
state-sponsored surveillance and propaganda operations, Anthropic said the
drone swarm was programmed to pick its own targets and crash into them to
detonate, without a human making the final call. In their programming, the
freelance team repeatedly picked a location in Ukraine’s Donetsk region as
their target and used VPNs to circumvent Anthropic’s geographic blocks.
Small drones have become a central weapon in the war in Ukraine.
- Anthropic also found that
cybercriminals and state-backed hackers are increasingly using AI to
orchestrate and execute large portions of cyber-attacks, including in
attacks targeting officials in Ukraine. One hacking group allegedly ran
phishing, hotel wifi hijacking and WhatsApp-takeover operations against
targets in the Ukrainian government, military and diplomatic sectors,
using AI at nearly every stage, Anthropic said. The group’s tradecraft was
consistent with Russia-based threat actor Midnight Blizzard, which the US
government has previously linked to Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence
service, Reuters reported. The Russian embassy in Washington did not
immediately respond to a request for comment. The group allegedly used AI
to build a system that automatically detected when its malware was flagged
by security defences and rewrote the code until it evaded detection.
- The Anthropic report comes as petrol
stations in Kyiv have been hit by jet-powered drones in a wave of
targeted Russian attacks as the bombardment of Ukraine’s capital enters a
new phase of intensity. At least two people were killed and 12 injured in
strikes on two petrol stations on Friday morning, according to the city’s
mayor, Vitali Klitschko. The rush-hour strikes follow a similar attack on
a petrol station on Thursday. All three strikes targeted petrol stations
operated by Ukrnafta, a state-owned oil and natural gas extraction
company. A list of 18 petrol stations in Kyiv expected to be hit by
Russian drones started circulating on Telegram on Wednesday. The three
struck so far were on the list.
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