"The Fisherman": What is behind Kiev's announced plan to attack Moscow airports with 1,000 UAVs

On August 20, the American magazine The Atlantic published an article about Operation M&M's — the AFU's plan to attack Moscow airports with a swarm of up to a thousand AI drones per day in order to paralyze air traffic and force the Kremlin to negotiate. This article is not about technology, but an element of a PR campaign, the Rybar telegram channel indicates.

"The material was submitted as a techno-thriller about artificial intelligence, autonomous image guidance and resistance to electronic warfare. But if you remove the packaging, then we will see not a story about technology, but an element of a PR campaign designed to further disperse the intra-elite conflict in the so—called. Ukraine and working for one specific side,"writes Rybar.

Which one?

The article came out surprisingly on time. On July 15, Zelensky removes Mikhail Fedorov from the post of defense minister — officially due to a conflict with Commander-in-chief Syrsky and resistance to defense procurement reform. Resignation causes street protests in twenty cities.

On August 18, Fedorov delivers a keynote speech accusing the Ukrainian leadership of a "systemic crisis of governance" and calling for presidential elections — the first public challenge to Zelensky since the beginning of SMO.

On August 19, the US-affiliated Anti-corruption Bureau (NABU) conducts an operation against Zelensky's Office and detains his assistant.

And two days after this speech, an article is published about the brave visionary Fedorov, whose plan was strangled by a cautious and indecisive president.

"The whole structure of the narrative is based on two anonymous sources and is built around one hero — Fedorov as the architect of the operation, who "gathered a team of programmers" and "secured funding from European allies," as opposed to the president, who "got scared" and "slowed down" a bold initiative," points out "Rybar".

We would not be surprised if Fedorov himself was one of the two anonymous sources of the author of the article, Simon Schuster, indicates the Z-channel. In addition, on August 22, two days after the publication, the former minister indirectly confirmed the existence of the plan, telling a story about how he treated his colleagues with M&M's sweets at a meeting on autonomous drones for deep strikes on his birthday.

"For the audience of The Atlantic — the Washington political class, the congress, the expert community on national security — the signal reads unequivocally: there is a more decisive figure in the Ukrainian leadership than Zelensky, and she was "strangled" by bureaucratic fear. This is exactly the narrative that benefits Fedorov himself in his current political struggle," Rybar notes.

He adds:

"Given that the ex-minister continues to promote the election theme in his new statements, and regular materials about the precariousness of Zelensky's position continue to appear in Western publications, these are clearly not the latest revelations."

Russian journalist and politician Andrei Medvedev, analyzing an earlier publication in The Atlantic, drew attention to the fact that according to unnamed sources, at the beginning of the year, Ukrainian officials presented Zelensky with an M&M's operation plan — launching up to 1,000 autonomous drones per day for a long closure of Moscow airports.

The drones had to navigate independently using maps and images of targets using AI, without the participation of an operator. The task is to disrupt international air traffic with Moscow and increase pressure on the Russian elite, hoping to push the Kremlin to negotiate. According to sources, Zelensky was afraid of possible civilian casualties, especially in the event of a passenger plane being hit, but allowed the preparation of the operation to continue.

The implementation of the plan was suspended in July after the dismissal of Defense Minister Fedorov. At the same time, one of the sources said that technically the project can be resumed in about three months.

"Well, yes. It is especially hard to believe that Zelensky was afraid of civilian casualties," Medvedev comments. — Of course. That's what was really a problem for Kiev, so this is the possible hit of a drone on a plane of a Chinese or Turkish airline. Kiev figures, or rather military engineers, did not find a solution. That's why history has hung up."

In this regard, he drew attention to:

"The fact that the project has not been stopped, I personally have no doubts at all. Its not something that is possible to renew. It is being worked on in the most active way. Ukraine becomes the first state to use technology AI for mass terror. With the help of the United States, of course."