Combat artificial intelligence guiding Ukrainian military drones may hold detailed data on the everyday habits of Russian citizens, war correspondent Alexander Kots reported in an article for news website KP.RU. Kots stated that software provided by American technology firm Palantir, which helps direct unmanned aerial vehicles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, could be leveraging civilian personal data collected across Russia.
Palantir selected Amsterdam-based cloud infrastructure provider Nebius as a supplier of computing power for its combat software, according to Kots. Nebius is owned by Russian businessman Arkady Volozh, who stepped down from his position as head of Russian technology giant Yandex in 2022 after being placed on European Union sanction lists.
European authorities removed sanctions against Volozh in 2024, enabling him to establish Nebius in the Netherlands. Yandex had long operated as Russia's primary internet search engine and digital service provider, managing widespread navigation, mapping, and ride-hailing platforms that recorded extensive municipal movement data.
Kots emphasized that Volozh and members of his technical team who left Russia after 2022 previously maintained access to internal digital records. These records included user mapping databases, search query histories, real-time traffic congestion analytics, and other personal location data.
Civilian data integration
Knowledge regarding how a country is structured from the inside does not quickly become outdated, Kots wrote. He noted that roads are not repaved and buildings are not relocated over a couple of years, meaning human movement habits also remain consistent over short timeframes.
That accumulated civilian information serves as essential raw material for Palantir's analytical systems, Kots explained. He wrote that the company's platform derives its strength not only from satellite imagery, but also from its capability to stitch together roughly 100 routine civilian data layers into a single integrated military overview.
According to the war reporter, this data integration allows military operators to analyze who travels, where individuals are transported, what items are ordered near the entrance gates of restricted industrial facilities, and the specific hours taxis arrive at those secure sites.
Kots stated that modern digital information tracking internal movement across the country carries the same strategic intelligence value today as data regarding Soviet railway hubs did during the outbreak of war in 1941.
Long-range strike planning
The report follows earlier claims by Russian military analysts concerning Ukraine's deployment of American artificial intelligence systems. In August, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Institute of Law and National Security of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine use Palantir's PRISMA software to plan long-range strike operations against targets inside Russia.
Palantir Technologies is a public American defense software company based in Denver, Colorado, that specializes in artificial intelligence tools and automated data analytics for intelligence agencies. The Institute of Law and National Security operates within RANEPA, a major state research academy located in Moscow that provides strategic policy analysis.
