Sources cited by The Atlantic report that Ukrainian officials developed an unprecedented plan to deploy artificial intelligence‑enabled drones to disable civilian airports in and around Moscow. Due to serious safety, legal and political concerns the operation was ultimately abandoned.
Plan overview
Under the concept, up to 1,000 small, inexpensive AI‑guided drones would have been launched on nightly sorties against Moscow and surrounding airports, with the stated objective of permanently disrupting civilian air traffic. The drones were intended to operate autonomously, identifying and engaging targets without human intervention. The proposal would have represented the first use in combat of such a large-scale autonomous drone system.
The operation was codenamed “M&Ms,” a reference to the large numbers of small, identical drones envisaged for the campaign.
Rationale behind the strategy
The planners argued that disabling Moscow’s airports would mainly inflict pain on Russia’s wealthy and politically connected elites. Because of Western sanctions, only a handful of carriers — including Turkish Airlines and Emirates — currently operate flights to Moscow, and those services are primarily used by wealthy Russians traveling to Istanbul and Dubai. Planners hoped that if those flights stopped, oligarchs and pro‑Kremlin elite groups might pressure President Vladimir Putin to enter peace negotiations.
Safety and political risks
When the plan was presented to President Volodimir Zelenszkij earlier in the year, he raised significant reservations. The primary concern was that autonomous drones could mistakenly strike a civilian airliner, an outcome that would likely be perceived internationally as piracy.
Plan proponents proposed several mitigation measures, such as notifying airlines in advance so they could withdraw aircraft from targeted airports. Nonetheless, the potential humanitarian, legal and diplomatic fallout remained a major obstacle.
Development and cancellation
Preparations continued through spring and early summer, but the operation’s preparation was halted in July when Zelenszkij unexpectedly dismissed Defense Minister Mihajlo Fedorov. The article identifies Fedorov as the intellectual architect of the operation: he is credited with creating Ukraine’s military drone program, assembling the programming team that developed the AI control system, and securing European sources for mass production of the autonomous drones.
Official denials
An anonymous official from the presidential administration denied that such a plan existed and called it implausible. The same source noted that Ukraine has long attempted to disrupt Russian airport operations and that some drone strikes have briefly achieved that effect, but asserted that Ukraine lacks long‑range, sufficiently precise weapons that would avoid unacceptable risk to civilians.
Closing note
According to The Atlantic’s reporting, the M&Ms proposal was shelved because the risks outweighed potential benefits. The preparation of the news article cited that an AI assistant contributed to its drafting; the final text was edited and verified by a journalist.
