Something OUTERWORLDLY Is SLAUGHTERING Russians In Ukraine

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Russia’s soldiers are terrified. Somehow, they’ve  started to get used to the sound of drones buzzing overhead. That is just the nature of war with  Ukraine. But what they’re seeing now is…different.

[00:00:10]Otherworldly. A horror from the skies that is  silent, undetectable, and is slaughtering Russian soldiers in droves. We’ll be blunt – Putin’s  patsies are scared s***less. And they should be. The Martians have landed. And they’re just  the start of a wave of AI-powered obliteration that is coming for Russia’s forces. We got some  of our first hints of what Ukraine has brought to the battlefield, not from Ukraine itself, but  from Russia and its fearful security services.

[00:00:38]On April 21, the Russian news agency TASS carried  a quote from a source within the Russian security services, who told of something monstrous in  the skies. “Such drones are difficult to locate in advance with drone detectors. the source said  ominously. The source then gave these new drones a name and explained just why there are brown stains  in the pants of every Russian soldier in Ukraine right now. “The key feature of the Martian UAV is  that it runs almost completely silent: it can only be heard when it is diving on a target, making it  doubly hard for personnel at outposts to determine when the Martian is about to attack,” the source  revealed. Silent. Deadly. Seemingly not of this world. It’s starting to feel like Russia has found  itself bringing tanks and meat to a sci-fi war, and it has no answers for what Ukraine has  unleashed. Unnamed Russian sources aren’t the only ones highlighting the horror of the Martians.  In Horlivka, where Ukraine’s otherworldly drones have been wreaking the most havoc, the  Russian-installed mayor of the city, Ivan Prikhodko, has spoken with wide-eyed horror of  what Putin’s patsies are now having to deal with.

[00:01:40]The new Ukrainian drones have a cruising speed  of up to 300 kilometers per hour, Prikhodko says, making them faster than most of the FPV and fiber  optic drones seen on the front lines. But the real issue for Russia is simple. Ukraine’s new drones,  “…no longer fly under operator guidance but are controlled by artificial intelligence. They  are undetectable by electronic warfare systems, and drone detectors don’t spot them,” Prikhodko  reveals. Ukraine isn’t saying much at all about these drones, which also means we don’t know much  from official channels about what the Martians are. But we do know a few things, one of which is  that there is a surprising influence from Google that is now being seen on the battlefield. Stick  with us to learn how that, along with some other interesting tidbits about the Martians, has caught  everybody off guard. But for now, the reality is that the technical specifications of Ukraine’s  new AI-powered drones matter less than what those drones do when they’re deployed. France24 repeats  the point about these drones being absolutely silent until the moment that they’re bearing down  on an unfortunate Russian soldier. Adding to that is the propensity of these new drones to fly  so low to the ground that air defense systems can’t spot them. Radars pointing skyward can’t do  much about an aerial threat that hugs the terrain, and adding both AI and high destructive power  into the mix only compounds the problem. When these undetectable drones aren’t taking out  Russian soldiers, they’re barreling into the very defense systems that are designed to spot  them. What that means for Russia is simple: Once the Martians have landed, gaps for other drones  and weaponry are created. Let’s come back to what we know about the drones. We have a cruising  speed. 300 kilometers per hour is nothing to be sniffed at. We also know that they’re silent and  practically undetectable, and that there is some sort of AI component involved. But where did they  come from? And why, after all of the drones that Ukraine has introduced to the battlefield, is this  particular unmanned aerial vehicle being treated by Russia as though it has come from outer space?  We can answer that second question with a little insight from the New York Times. It reveals that  the Martian, at least in earlier iterations of the technology, appears to have been flying since  early January 2025. Back then, it was known as the Bumblebee, and rumblings about its capabilities  emerged when Ukraine put its new weapon to the test. In January, a Bumblebee managed to stop  a Russian logistics truck in its tracks while flying autonomously, the outlet says. A few months  later, another Bumblebee flew without any human intervention to reach and strike a Russian armored  vehicle that was using electronic warfare systems created to prevent this exact type of thing from  happening. The word was out in Russia. Ukraine had a new kind of drone that couldn’t be stopped  using jammers. Russia made getting its hands on one of Ukraine’s drones a priority, and it soon  learned that the only way to do that was to shoot one down. More through luck than skill, Russia  managed to do just that a couple of days after the Bumblebee strike on the armored vehicle. The  debris from Ukraine’s new drone was sent to the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions, which is  one of Russia’s main drone manufacturing business, stationed just outside of Moscow. The center  picked through the wreckage, and they gave the Bumblebee a new name: Marsianin. Russian for  “Martian.” That name didn’t come out of nowhere.

[00:04:38]The reason why Russia granted such an otherworldly  title to Ukraine’s new drone was due to the potential involvement of an organization that  nobody would have ever expected to become part of the Ukraine war. No, not Google (we’re getting  to that). NASA! Now, we’re not saying that NASA directly developed the Martian drone for Ukraine.  But according to Russia, it can safely be assumed that the tech that drives the Martian undetected  into so many of Russia’s soldiers and military hardware was spawned from NASA’s Ingenuity  program. Way back in 2020, NASA sent its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to the planet that lent  the drone its name. It first flew in april 2021 and over the next three years, that experimental  drone completed 72 flights, all of which were carried out to determine just how well a drone  could fly on a planet like Mars. The Ingenuity drone surpassed all expectations. NASA itself said  that the drone ended up “soaring higher and faster than previously imagined.” And according  to the New York Times, the Ingenuity drone completed many of these flights autonomously.  Alarm bells began ringing at the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions. Within a month or  two, reports were being created that practically screamed about potential U.S. involvement in  the creation of Ukraine’s terrifying new drone.

[00:05:47]The Martian “poses a serious threat,” one of  those reports declared, and it also stated, “there are no effective countermeasures,  and none are expected in the near future.”

[00:05:55]Translation – Ukraine just brought an almost  unstoppable drone to the battlefield, and the only way to bring it down is to get lucky and shoot it.  Russia is right. About all of it, including the U.S. involvement. However, it’s not just NASA’s  fingerprints that are seen all over Ukraine’s Martian drones. There’s another influence at  play, and it’s one that is far more direct in its involvement. That influence comes from Google  itself, and it is bucking trends to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to fight back against  Russia’s aggression. That alone changes everything for Ukraine. But before we dig a little deeper,  this is a quick reminder that you’re watching The Military Show. If this is the type of insight  that you want to see, make sure that you’re subscribed to the channel. The influence that  has made itself clear in the Martian is the former head of Google – Eric Schmidt. Schmidt  goes further than most of Ukraine’s individual backers. He isn’t content to write a couple of  checks and deliver some kind words. Schmidt uses his combination of tech expertise and financial  muscle to build the sorts of weapons that give Russia’s soldiers nightmares. The Martian is  one of those weapons, and it is the product of a Schmidt-run start-up named White Stork. Forbes  revealed the existence of this top-secret military project in January 2024, though we didn’t hear  much more about it for months after. But what we heard back then was enough to convince anybody  who was paying attention that White Stork could be a game-changer for Ukraine. Schmidt got to  work recruiting some of the best and brightest from Silicon Valley. Former employees of companies  like Apple, SpaceX, and Schmidt’s former company, Google, ended up at White Stork, where they worked  alongside former members of U.S. federal agencies.

[00:07:29]Hackathons started to take place. Schmidt  uses his considerable influence to get his hands on tech that no other private business  could get. The project was, and still is, the creation of AI-powered drones that can be used  by Ukraine. It’s from all of this work that the Martian originates. Tech that began life in a NASA  laboratory and ended up on Mars has now found its way into Ukraine. It doesn’t need GPS to navigate.  Autonomous scanning of terrain features is enough.

[00:07:55]An electric motor weighing around 10 kilograms is  what helps it to stay silent. It’s cheap. It uses advanced electro-optical target detection and  recognition systems that leverage AI to ensure precisely hit what it needs to hit. And even the  videos and data that it sends back to Ukraine use advanced encrypted signals that Russia can’t hack,  meaning Putin’s military brass can’t even find clues about the new drone from the horrified  looks on the faces of the soldiers who see it bearing down. The Martian isn’t a pipe dream. It’s  not some crazy idea concocted by a rich man with more money than sense. The Martian is very real.  It’s wrecking Russian forces and equipment as we speak, and that is a major problem for Putin.  However, it’s also just the tip of the iceberg, because behind the headline-grabbing of the  Martian drone, there is a far bigger issue that Russia has to grapple with: Ukraine’s AI  revolution is now well underway. And Russia is falling a long way behind. Ukraine’s Ministry  of Defense has already made it very clear that it views AI as the true game-changer in  Ukraine’s battle against Russia. On May 4, the CEO of Ukraine’s Defense AI Center A1, Danylo  Tsvok, made that clear in comments published by the ministry. Ukraine’s use of AI isn’t  about creating a 100% autonomous battlefield, Tsvok says. It’s about effectiveness, and the  creation of weapons that minimize the risk posed to Ukraine’s soldiers while maximizing the damage  done to Russia. Not only that, Tsvok declares, but the work done by companies like Defense AI  Center A1, which is working alongside the U.K.’s government, is essential to protecting democracy  throughout the West. “Democracies must develop defense capabilities. Without AI, they cannot  effectively safeguard peace,” Tsvok declares.

[00:09:33]Comments tinged with a little self-interest from  an AI tech guru? Perhaps. But Tsvok’s bluster reveals that Ukraine sees the AI-powered weaponry  that it is introducing onto the battlefield as one of the most important advancements yet made  in the battle against Putin’s authoritarianism.

[00:09:48]The Martian is at the forefront of a new wave  of AI-powered drones that are tearing through the Russian offensive. And it’s not just drones  that are being encompassed by Ukraine’s AI wave.

[00:09:58]Several more weapons are being automated to give  Ukraine an edge against Putin’s marauding forces, which we’ll get to in a few minutes. Sticking  with drones for the moment, the Head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, and formerly one  of Ukraine’s main men in the intelligence sector, Kyrylo Budanov, has claimed that the battlefield  has reached a point where the limits of existing technologies are being reached, which is forcing  the emergence of new technologies if Ukraine is to stay ahead. “A transition to autonomous systems  is required. These should be platforms capable of independently identifying targets and maneuvering  without direct human control. Ukraine already has developments in this area, and they are expected  to become a significant and potentially unexpected factor on the battlefield in the near future,”  Budanov declares. So, we may not be at the point where the battlefield is 100% autonomous. But  something like that appears to be Ukraine’s goal. Ukraine isn’t just saying all of this  while ruminating on some theoretical future.

[00:10:48]Money and time are being poured into making the  battlefield as autonomous as possible. Companies such as Swarmer, which develops software that can  be used to coordinate drone swarms featuring all manner of unmanned aerial vehicles, are working to  make Ukraine’s AI technology as widespread among its unmanned systems forces as possible. Swarmer’s  tech has already been used in more than 100,000 missions in Ukraine since it was introduced in  April 2024, Ukraine Arms Monitor reports. The likes of White Stork are making more specific  technologies and drones, though even individual systems can be used to inspire future generations  of drones that Ukraine brings to the battlefield.

[00:11:24]Ukraine has more than enough companies that  are working to make its drone-based strategy a reality. An absolute juggernaut of a defense  industry already exists in the drone sector, and it is expected to manufacture seven  million drones for Ukraine in 2026 alone, The Kyiv Independent reports. That amounts to  around 19,000 drones made per day, some costing as little as $500, yet still being capable of taking  out multi-million-dollar Russian systems, such as the air defenses that are now failing so badly  against the Martian. On the AI front, Ukraine now has over 200 companies that are developing  drone and drone-related technologies that make use of artificial intelligence. Those companies  have combined to register more than 300 AI-related drone developments on Ukraine’s Brave1 platform,  which Ukraine created to ensure collaboration between its decentralized drone producers and to  ensure those producers have direct support from Ukraine’s government. On the battlefield right  now, Ukraine has over 70 systems that make use of AI technology in play. We told you earlier that  the Martian, as terrifying as it is for Putin’s soldiers, is just the top of the iceberg. This is  what we meant – Ukraine’s otherworldly drone is spearheading an entire revolution that is making  Russian pants browner than the noses of Putin’s lackies. What we’re now seeing Ukraine do is enter  a new phase of warfare that is unlike anything that has been seen before. AI integration allows  Ukraine’s drones to autonomously identify and zero in on targets, all while navigating complicated  conditions that are layered with electronic warfare. These drones can also process more data  far faster than a human could ever be capable of doing, which is already allowing for real-time  adjustments to be made to what Ukraine’s drones are doing with minimal interference from human  operators. We are seeing the dawn of autonomy in progress, and it’s not going to be long before  the AI drone sun rises so high that it scorches through Russia. Every single day, new prototypes  for drones and software are being tested, much of which is funded by Ukraine and its partners.  We now have the likes of Eric Schmidt serving as crusaders for the Ukrainian cause, putting their  money where their mouth is to deliver the sort of technology that feels as though it has been pulled  out of Star Wars. Weapons that were once limited by the fiber optic cables attached to them or  the knowledge that their operators had available relating to the battlefield are now able to fly  in swarms, picking out targets as they go, while overcoming all of the means that Russia has to  stop them. But for the dawn to become a new day, Ukraine must keep building. AI clearly offers  plenty of advantages on the drone front. But if there’s one thing that we’ve learned about  Ukraine since Putin launched its invasion, it’s that Ukraine never lets a discovery lie once  it has been made. AI drones are at the forefront of the autonomous revolution, but Ukraine is  integrating AI into far more weapons than the Martian and its ilk. We’re starting to see AI  everywhere. And that spells bad news for Russia.

[00:14:08]On May 9, the Kyiv Post revealed that Ukraine has  developed a new AI—powered turret via the Brave1 cluster that is being used to track and shatter  Russian fiber-optic drones. These types of drones are similar to Ukraine’s AI drones in that they  can’t be stopped by electronic warfare, though they’re not autonomous, and they are limited by  the lengths of their cables. Ukraine’s answer to those drones is more AI built into turrets that  are now active in 10 units across the battlefield, and will likely soon spread to become a standard  defense against one of the most important weapons that Russia has on the front lines. We’re even  seeing Ukraine incorporate AI into other weapons that feel otherworldly. Also on May 9, Interesting  Engineering reported that Ukraine is trialing a new anti-drone laser with an engagement range  of about five kilometers. Named the Tryzub, this laser has entered its final testing phase  before it is deployed on the battlefield.

[00:14:56]With laser defenses, Ukraine can shoot down  Russian Shahed drones at practically no cost, as physical rounds or interceptor drones  don’t have to be manufactured. The laser has already been successfully tested against  targets measuring as small as 18 centimeters, which implies that Shaheds won’t be a problem, and  AI is used to rapidly track and target Russia’s incoming drone before a laser fires off so fast  that the drone is down before it even knows what hit it. And do you remember earlier, when we  mentioned that Ukraine sees this sort of tech as so important that it believes it can protect  the concept of democracy itself? That isn’t idle chatter from Ukraine. NSS Magazine revealed  in April that Ukraine is providing the data it is collecting from its drone and AI-based systems  to its Western allies so that they can use it to train their own AI models. That means AI is  becoming more than just a tool for Ukraine on the battlefield. Drones like the Martian gain  a new layer of terror for Putin and his patsies because Ukraine is actively using the data it  collects to make itself even more essential to the kinds of nations that want to stand against  Putin’s tyranny. Ukraine’s advancements are the collective West’s gains. And what that means is  that Russia is facing a West that is ever more unified, not just ideologically, but in terms  of its capability to deal with Russia. Russia is trying to keep up. It’s developing AI drones  of its own, and it’s trying to deploy the tech against Ukraine. But Russia’s drones are prone  to errors and aren’t as advanced as even the earlier versions of Ukraine’s AI tech. Russia’s  own reporting claims that Ukraine’s autonomous terminal guidance, which is seen in the likes of  the Martian drone, is achieving a direct-hit rate of over 70%, which is insane when faced with  air defenses, electronic warfare, and every other countermeasure that Russia has created.  The reality Putin must now face is simple: The Martians have landed. And they’re just the  start of a series of Ukrainian advancements that have changed the rules of modern warfare. The tech  will get better. The stains in Russian pants will get bigger. And the AI-powered slaughter that  is already happening, and will only get worse, has the potential to stop Putin’s invasion in its  tracks. As Russia’s leader watches Ukraine advance in ways he never thought possible, Russia’s  own “advanced” weaponry is taking a beating.

[00:17:02]A new generation of fighter jets was supposed to  bring Russia’s air force to parity with the U.S.

[00:17:06]and China. Instead, Russia’s latest jets lie  in ruins, and it’s all thanks to a long-range assault by Ukraine. Discover more about the fate  of Russia’s ultra-modern Su-57s, which Putin was hiding over 1,700 kilometers away from Ukraine’s  borders, in our video. And if you enjoyed this video, make sure you hit subscribe so you never  miss what The Military Show has in store next.