Journalist Simon Shuster reported in The Atlantic, citing sources, that Ukraine discussed a plan to disrupt Moscow's airports using a swarm of AI-equipped drones. The operation, code-named "M&Ms," envisioned launching up to 1,000 small, inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles in a single night.
The plan was initially developed under former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who assembled a team of programmers to build an AI-based navigation system and secured funding for drone production from European allies, the outlet said. The drones were designed to operate autonomously: their onboard computers were loaded with route maps and target images, allowing each aircraft to dive onto its objective without operator confirmation.
The plan was presented to President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Atlantic wrote that Zelensky expressed concerns about the risk of hitting civilian aircraft and passengers, but allowed preparations to continue to gain leverage over Russian authorities. Organizers also proposed warning international airlines in advance so they would avoid Moscow's airports. They believed this would push carriers, including Turkish Airlines and Emirates, to cancel flights to Russia and limit the Russian elite's ties to the outside world.
Preparations were halted in July when Fedorov was dismissed from his post as defense minister. One of the outlet's interlocutors did not rule out that a new team could revive the project: "Technically it is possible... It would take about three months."
A representative of Zelensky's office dismissed the reports as "complete nonsense," saying Ukraine lacks long-range weapons accurate and reliable enough to strike airports without excessive risk to civilians. Russian airports, meanwhile, regularly suspend operations due to Ukrainian attacks: according to Rosaviatsia, from June 28 to July 28 such measures were introduced 114 times, with at least 17 temporary closures in the Moscow region.