Russians Expected Regular Ukrainian Soldiers… But TERMINATORS Came for Them Instead

[00:00:00]It’s starting to feel a little like old hat to  talk about how Ukraine has become the master of drone warfare. But we also can’t deny reality.  It’s the truth. And the reason behind that mastery isn’t just what Ukraine does with its drones on  the battlefield. Ukraine is the master because it keeps coming up with new and more terrifying  drones that rip through Russia’s forces. Another innovation has arrived. Ukraine tested Terminator  mode in some of its drones, and Russian soldiers dropped like flies. Putin’s patsies expected  to be in a fight with Ukrainian soldiers. The only solace for Russia’s soldiers is that the  Terminator isn’t coming for them full-time… Yet. In a June 10 piece, New Scientist made  the startling revelation that fully autonomous drones are no longer a pipe dream. They are here,  and Ukraine has been testing them. What’s more, those tests haven’t revealed that more work needs  to be done to make the drones more effective.

[00:00:53]The “Terminator,” as drone-maker Alexander  Kokhanovskyy dubs the terrifying metal machine that Ukraine has sent into the skies, aced every  test that it faced with flying colors. The results are simple. The Terminator flew, found, and  finished Russian soldiers without even the slightest scrap of human intervention. Practically  everything that we know about this test comes from Kokhanovskyy. One of the most senior figures in  Ukraine’s increasingly drone-dependent defense industry, Kokhanovskyy says that the test of the  Terminator drone was a one-off, and that the drone performed better than anybody could have imagined.  Ukraine sent 10 of these AI-controlled drones into the skies near the cities of Bakhmut and Chasiv  Yar, and they did what they were designed to do. Russian soldiers were killed, and equipment  went up in flames. The test reportedly involved 10 quadcopter drones that had been programmed  using AI to go on a seek and destroy mission.

[00:01:47]Those drones took off and then flew to the front  lines, all without human guidance. It took each about 10 minutes to cover between three and five  kilometers of territory. Once the journey was done, each drone activated its “Terminator”  mode, which triggered the operation of an AI model designed to identify targets for the drone  to intercept. Kokhanovskyy outlines the sheer lethality of the Terminator in a chilling quote  shared by the New Scientist. “We just launch it and we know everything will be dead – everything  that will be found there in this particular area will be dead,” Kokhanovskyy revealed, before  adding a unique little insight into how the Terminator works. “There is no connection to  the drone at all, you cannot see the video, nothing… Everything it sees will be killed.” That  means this drone is unlike any other that Ukraine has produced. Every other drone, even those that  don’t have cameras to provide real-time videos, is overseen in some capacity by Ukraine. Whether  that means watching footage that the drone shoots directly or tracking the drone's course over  long distances using satellites and instruments, Ukraine always knows what its drones are doing.  There is some level of human oversight. Except in the Terminator. This amazing drone does everything  by itself. But if there is no video feed from the Terminator, how can Kokhanovskyy so confidently  claim that the AI-powered autonomous drone did its job? Simple – Ukraine sent reconnaissance  drones to examine the aftermath of the deployment.

[00:03:05]Those reconnaissance drones surveyed a scene that  reportedly contained “a couple of soldiers, [and] one truck.” This meat and metal hadn’t been struck  by any of the drones that Ukraine’s operators were controlling directly. So, there could be only  one conclusion. The Terminator did precisely what its movie namesake does. It couldn’t be bargained  with. It couldn’t be reasoned with. It didn’t feel pity or remorse. No matter what Russia’s soldiers  would have tried, the unfeeling Terminator came for them and destroyed them. We only know about  this test because Kokhanovskyy revealed that it happened. Ukraine’s military and its Defense  Ministry have kept their lips sealed. There could be a couple of reasons for this. Ukraine  may not want to give away any information about how it designed and used the Terminator, as even  the smallest scrap could be enough to help Russia develop a version of the drone to deploy against  Ukraine. Or, and perhaps more likely, Ukraine recognizes that there are ethical concerns related  to using a drone that requires no input from a human, and it’s wary about revealing to the world  that it has tested one such drone. And that brings us to a part of this story that will lead to Putin  and his patsies breathing a collective sigh of relief. The Terminator isn’t a brand-new drone.  The tests that Kokhanovskyy has exposed happened about two years ago. On the one hand, this is even  more terrifying for Russia. A technology that is still supposed to be in development is actually  already in Ukraine’s hands. It’s been tested. It clearly works. And if Ukraine even feels the need,  it can bring the Terminator back and deploy it to shred through Russian soldiers and equipment on  the front. But on the other hand, the question has to be asked – why is the Terminator not  already on the front if it works? The answer is that the Ukrainian government has well-founded  ethical concerns about using this type of drone, which we will revisit in a few minutes. For  now, it’s enough to know that the Ukrainian government has banned the use of AI at the final  stage of striking a target. The technology can be used to locate and track. But when it comes to the  final strike, any weapon that uses AI needs to be controlled by a human in its final stages. Ukraine  knows how dangerous the technology that it has on its hands can truly be. Its tests show everything.  Even Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in 2025 that the use of AI in weapons  needs to be regulated now, before it’s too late and everybody is building drones like the  one that Ukraine tested in 2024. “We need global rules — now – for how AI can be used in weapons.  And this is just as urgent as preventing the spread of nuclear weapons,” Zelenskyy told the UN  General Assembly. Ukraine appears to have created self-imposed rules to that effect. So, that means  the Terminator is out. For now. A lot could change if Russia gets its hands on similar technology and  starts trying to use it on the battlefield. But the bigger story behind this drone is that it may  well have been one of the building blocks of an overall shift toward a robot and drone-filled army  that Ukraine has been making ever since the tests, and continues to work on. 100% autonomy may not  be allowed, even if it’s possible. But the concept behind this drone, which is to take humans out of  the equation as much as possible, thus protecting them against Russia’s army, is still very much  alive and well. What we see in these tests is the earliest version of the rise of the robots that  Ukraine aims to create throughout its entire armed forces. And two years after the Terminator flew,  Ukraine has gone from taking stumbling steps as it grappled with a technology that it is wary of  managing to the confident use of robots, drones, autonomy, and AI in ways that don’t create  ethical dilemmas. In a March 2025 analysis, the Center for Strategic and International  Studies, or CSIS, outlined what it believes to be Ukraine’s key goals as it works on evolving the  type of technology found in the Terminator. The number one priority for Ukraine, according to the  CSIS, is to remove as many soldiers from active combat duty and replace them with unmanned systems  that act autonomously. Not only does this mean the reduction of the fatigue, stress, and risk that  Ukraine’s human soldiers face on the front line, but it’s also a solution to the burgeoning  manpower problems that could impact Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia in  the future. CNN reports that some two million people are “wanted” in Ukraine for attempting to  avoid military service, with the Kyiv Independent adding that another 200,000 soldiers who have been  mobilized were absent without leave as of January 2026. This is a problem that few talk about, but  creates a very real burden for a Ukrainian defense force that is trying to deal with the Russian  strategy of simply having more of everything.

[00:07:20]Autonomous robotic systems or at least robotic  systems that can operate on the front lines while being controlled by people stationed many  kilometers away, would be the perfect solution for this manpower challenge. And with reduced  risk, the idea of serving your country in its defense against Russia would also be much more  appealing to want-away soldiers who are leaning toward running rather than fighting. If they don’t  have to come face-to-face with the soldiers on the front, more may choose to stay and fight, rather  than run. But what does this really mean when we consider Ukraine’s present and future? There are  two ways that the rise of the Terminator, and all the machines that have been inspired by it, could  go. One would be the hellscape that Zelenskyy and Ukraine seem determined to avoid, where unmanned  and autonomous machines are killing without any human intervention. The other seems to be the  path that Ukraine is following. A melding of man and machine to create semi-autonomous solutions  that may be inspired by the Terminator drone, but aren’t quite as lacking in soul or ethics.  But before we dig deeper into both, we want to remind you that you’re watching The Military Show.  If you’re enjoying this video, hit subscribe so you don’t miss any of our upcoming coverage. One  vision for Ukraine’s warfighting future comes from a Kyiv-born engineer named Yaroslav Azhnyuk.  Speaking to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE, during a December  2025 meeting, Azhnyuk envisioned a stark future in which “swarms of autonomous drones carrying  other autonomous drones to protect them against autonomous drones, which are trying to intercept  them, controlled by AI agents overseen by a human general somewhere” becomes the norm in Ukraine.  “How do you protect from that?” he asks, as he says that we could see something similar in the  maritime drones that Ukraine has been using to cripple the Black Sea Fleet and conduct strikes  against Crimea. The simple answer is that you don’t. And if Ukraine were to go all-in on the  Terminator technology that it tested in 2024, this future would be a very real possibility.  Ukraine, along with all battlefields to come, would descend into dystopian hellscapes. The few  human soldiers who are deployed would spend all of their time hiding as machines battled machines.  Commanders might still be in play. But they would be overseeing drone swarms so large that it would  be impossible to govern who and what they target.

[00:09:23]The war would be fought between AI as much as it  would be fought between nations. Some might argue that Ukraine already represents a battlefield much  like this. A Russian soldier can look to the sky and see FPV drones on constant patrol, knowing  that the human operators of those drones will send their machines in for the kill as soon as  the soldier is spotted. But that human interaction is the difference maker. With a human operator, a  Russian soldier has the option, however fleeting, of surrender. They could wave the white flag and  hope to receive mercy. We have even seen that in the recent past. In July 2025, drones and ground  robots operated by Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade in Kharkiv used a combination of drones and  ground robots to take Russian soldiers prisoner, all without having to directly involve Ukrainian  soldiers. If the Terminator drone that Ukraine tested were to become widespread, there is no  guarantee that this option would exist. Remember, these drones are programmed to track and  destroy. There is no room for human compassion, or even the concept of taking prisoners to use  as leverage. That is the dystopian disconnect.

[00:10:21]And it is likely why we’re not seeing Ukraine  take the Terminator or drones like it from the testing ground into full deployment. Instead, what  we see from Ukraine is the cherry-picking of the best aspects of autonomous technology paired with  enough human control to ensure that warfighting doesn’t become a completely soulless battle of the  machines. Ukraine isn’t shying away from the use of AI in its drones. Far from it, in fact. Ukraine  is embracing AI, but it’s doing so in a way that sees it take a different direction from the one  that could have been taken if it had gone all-in on the Terminator drone. As The Kyiv Independent  pointed out in April, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has encouraged the development of an AI ecosystem  in which more than 200 companies are involved in producing AI-powered drones. That ecosystem has  already produced over 300 AI-related developments that are registered on the Brave1 platform that  Ukraine uses to centralize its drone development activities. Ukraine has also set up the A1 Defense  Center, which is an AI hub that Ukraine expects will deliver the AI-powered technology of the  future. So, Ukraine is clearly using AI. But the “how” differs from what we saw in the Terminator  test. Take what has been happening with Ukraine’s strikes against Russian logistics in the near rear  over the past few months. Those strikes have been critical to cutting off Russian supply lines,  particularly in Crimea, and they are isolating Russian troops. According to Forbes, Ukraine is  using AI drones as part of this supply line hunt, and it has been doing so since at least the  summer of 2025. These AI drones carry out the initial aspects of what the Terminator did during  its trial run. Using AI, they locate, track, and even follow targets. But the key difference  is that drone operators can see everything, and they’re involved in everything from mission  planning to completing the last stage of the assignment, which is to carry out the strike  itself. Ukraine’s AI drones aren’t simply being sent into the skies to kill. They’re being sent to  specific locations that Ukraine wants to strike.

[00:12:08]And though they automatically find targets, it’s  always an operator who makes the final call, or approves the AI’s decision, to strike  that target. Elsewhere, AI is being used to take out targets autonomously. But those  targets aren’t human. In a June 8 report, United24 Media revealed that Ukrainian company  MaXon Systems has developed a new AI-powered system that integrates directly into Ukraine’s air  defense radar network to allow interceptor drones to track and strike incoming Shahed-type strike  drones. The technology has been combat-tested and has a 95% success rate of interceptions.  And it works similarly to the Terminator.

[00:12:43]As with the Terminator, an operator chooses a  strike zone or target. With the command issued, the interceptor flies. No more intervention is  needed. Once airborne, the drone interceptor tracks and strikes with no manual piloting.  The onboard artificial intelligence has also been trained to recognize Shaheds and similar  strike drones, which means that there’s little chance of it going rogue. Ukraine still has  a “human-in-the-loop” safeguard in place that allows an operator to cancel an attack up to  the last few seconds. Perhaps what we’re seeing here is the natural evolution of the Terminator  drone tech. Rather than embracing the “kill ‘em all” approach taken with the Terminator, Ukraine’s  drone developers have built on what the Terminator could do while introducing safeguards to ensure  the AI tech only targets non-human assets and can be canceled at any time. This is the  future of automation as Ukraine sees it, meaning the Terminator test was just a stepping  stone. Still, Ukraine has no intention of abandoning its plans for a robot army, especially  on the ground. Defense News reported in April that Ukraine plans to field 25,000 ground robots in  the first half of 2026. And though those robots are capable of semi-autonomous operations, up  to and including taking Russian positions, as we saw in a remarkable April incident where ground  robots imitated one of the main roles of infantry, the focus is less on taking life and more on  preserving it. Specifically, Ukraine wants to use its AI technology to ensure that as few of  its soldiers as possible die on the front lines.

[00:14:04]Ukraine’s ground robots now run logistics and  evacuation missions, taking the place of human soldiers that would have been forced to take  the risk inherent in those operations just a few months ago. According to Defense News, Ukraine’s  General Staff of the Armed Forces has already credited the introduction of ground robots, some  fully controlled and others semi-autonomous, as cutting down personnel casualties by a remarkable  30%. What we see in all of these examples is the legacy of the Terminator drone tests from 2024.  As for the Terminator itself, it’s unlikely that we’ll see it on the battlefield any time soon.  Alongside Zelenskyy, who used his platform at a UN meeting to warn against the dangers of AI  in warfare, the UN’s Secretary-General, António Guterres, has decried the very idea of a fully  autonomous killing machine like the Terminator as “politically unacceptable [and] morally  repugnant.” Ukraine appears to agree, which is why we haven’t seen the Terminator in its original  form take to the skies since its initial tests.

[00:14:58]Even if we remove the ethical considerations,  there are also concerns about the AI that powers these types of drones going haywire. What if  the AI malfunctions and identifies Ukrainian soldiers as Russians? Friendly fire would take on  a whole new meaning then. Can it even be described as such when the offending weapon isn’t even  controlled by a friend? The Terminator proved that Ukraine could build something that many  have theorized, but few ever want to see on the battlefield. The tech behind the drone lives  on in the semi-autonomous systems that Ukraine is creating in 2026. As for Russia, that big sigh  of relief we mentioned comes with a caveat. If Russia starts introducing anything like this type  of tech into Ukraine, then the gloves will be off.

[00:15:35]The Terminator drone is ready. Ukraine knows how  to build it, and the drone is combat-tested. All it takes is for Ukraine to change its mind,  and the test that saw Russian soldiers drop like flies in 2024 could be the new reality that  Russia’s forces aren’t ready to face. For now, that reality doesn’t seem imminent. But that  doesn’t mean that Ukraine isn’t developing new drone technology all the time. Do you remember  those strikes against Russian logistics that we mentioned earlier in the video? Some of those  strikes involved a brand-new middle-range drone named the Morrigan, and it is ruining Russia’s  supply lines. Shrouded in secrecy, this drone is a potential game-changer. Find out what we  know and why the Morrigan is so important by watching our video. And if you enjoyed this video,  remember to subscribe to The Military Show to learn more about the secret weapons that Ukraine  deploys and tests in its war against Russia.