A Ministry bulletin reveals AI features that let middle strike systems navigate jammed skies and ignore decoys, shifting the balance in operational depth targeting.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine explained how artificial intelligence enhances the effectiveness of using middle strike assets.

An official explanation was published on the Ministry of Defense’s website.

“The President of Ukraine has defined strikes on Russian military facilities at operational depth as one of the defense priorities for the near future. At the President’s directive, the Ministry of Defense launched the ‘Logistics Lockdown’ program against the Russian army and is scaling up middle strike. This should further pressure the Russians in the rear and deprive them of the ability to conduct active assault actions”

– Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

As part of the first phase of the program, the Ministry of Defense, together with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, allocated an additional 5 billion hryvnias directly for the procurement of modern middle strike assets.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense noted that in recent months the Defense Forces of Ukraine have quadrupled the destruction of the enemy’s logistics, warehouses, equipment, command posts and supply routes at operational depth.

Features of Using AI in Middle Strike

This zone is difficult to strike because it is densely saturated with enemy air defenses and electronic warfare systems. One way to bypass these obstacles is the use of artificial intelligence in middle strike assets. This is also part of the technological edge whose provision is among the priorities of Ukraine’s defense plan, the ministry explained.

The Ministry named the advantages that AI offers for middle strike:

  • autonomous navigation;
  • automatic target acquisition;
  • ignoring decoys of military hardware;
  • bypassing enemy air defense zones.

As explained by the ministry, at a distance of more than 50 kilometers from the front line, navigation is often suppressed or substituted by the enemy’s EW. Middle strike systems solve this problem with the help of artificial intelligence.

A specialized computer and optical cameras can be installed on board the drone. The AI on such a drone continuously scans the terrain, roads, rivers, and the contours of objects beneath it. The real-time image obtained is compared by the algorithm with high-resolution satellite imagery stored in memory. The drone “knows” exactly where it is, calculating its trajectory using visual landmarks.

As the Ministry stressed, AI can ignore decoys of military equipment.

Modern neural networks are trained to distinguish real combat equipment from mock-ups by geometry, texture, and the presence of a heat signature from engines.

This significantly enhances the effectiveness of middle strike assets, the ministry explained.

The Ministry explained that the drone’s flight path to an operational depth of up to 200 km is not a straight line, so artificial intelligence is engaged already at the mission planning stage. For example, it analyzes current reconnaissance data on the location of the enemy’s air defense radars.

The program calculates the optimal flight track: taking into account terrain folds, detected “blind spots” of radars and the projected range of enemy air defense complexes.

All of this collectively helps scale the effectiveness of middle strike, destroying the enemy’s logistics, warehouses, equipment and headquarters, the Ministry stressed.

In May 2026 and the general conclusions

In May 2026, Defense Forces units continued methodically destroying logistics, warehouses, headquarters, air defense systems and other components of Russia’s offensive activity using middle strike.

Special attention was focused on taking control of key logistics of the Russian invaders in temporarily occupied areas of Luhansk Oblast and Eastern Slobozhanshchyna, as well as the route between Berdyansk, Melitopol and Dzhankoy.

According to the Ministry of Defense, more than 100 Ukrainian companies gained access to the Brave1 Dataroom for training AI models based on real data.

In this regard, the Ministry of Defense emphasized that the program strengthens the Defense Forces’ ability to strike enemy logistics chains and guided targets in the rear of the adversary.

It remains to add that integrating AI into middle strike aims to increase accuracy, speed, and decisiveness in striking key enemy targets, in line with Ukraine’s defense plan.