Russian military strikes Ukrainian port with AI-powered drones – MOD (VIDEOS)

Kamikaze UAVs hit at least four ships involved in the war effort, including a fishing vessel converted into a drone carrier

The Russian military has conducted strikes on the Ukrainian port of Chernomorsk, in Odessa Region, hitting several moored vessels, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The strikes were aimed at “diminishing the adversary’s capabilities to transport weaponry and military hardware in the Black Sea operational zone,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. At least four vessels were hit, including a ro-ro ferry, a bulker, a patrol boat, and a fishing vessel converted into a sea drone carrier, according to the ministry.

All the targets were hit by turbojet Geran-4 ‘Seeker’ drones, the MOD noted. The ‘Seeker’ variant of Russian UAVs is believed to be fitted with an AI-powered machine vision system, enabling such drones to search for, identify, and lock onto targets without input from their operators.

Footage released by the military was captured by the kamikaze drones on approach to their targets. The extent of damage sustained by the affected vessels was not immediately known, with no surveillance drone footage readily available.

All the drones involved in the attack appeared to have locked onto the superstructure of the vessels they targeted, the video suggests.

On Friday, the Defense Ministry said that Russian troops maintain the capability to penetrate any anti-aircraft defenses supplied to Kiev by its Western sponsors and “reliably hit any targets throughout Ukraine.” The ministry specifically singled out continuing strikes on “the Ukrainian seaport facilities, as well as against various vessels delivering weapons and military equipment to the [Vladimir] Zelensky regime.”

In recent weeks, the Russian military has ramped up long-range strikes on Ukrainian military industry and dual-use critical infrastructure sites, repeatedly launching large-scale attacks involving kamikaze drones, and cruise and ballistic missiles. According to Moscow, the campaign comes in response to “terrorist attacks” by Kiev against Russian civilian infrastructure, which have intensified amid the latest string of setbacks suffered by Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.