Ukraine’s military intelligence unit is leveraging AI to track clues from Russian forces online.
Kyiv-based defense innovation and education center Boryviter is testing an AI tool called “ODCR Assistant” to snoop around thousands of Russian-affiliated online sources.
The tool combs through multiple platforms, filters relevant insights, and classifies them based on NATO’s ODCR (Observation, Discussion, Conclusion, Recommendation) framework, Boryviter’s Analytical Department Head Pavlo Musiyenko shared with Militarnyi.
While online intel gathering has long been part of the Russia-Ukraine war, automating it with AI to spot key insights faster and lighten analyst workloads marks a significant tech leap.
How It Works
The ODCR Assistant connects to several unclassified data streams and pulls data from a wide range of sources, including soldiers’ social media accounts, Russian-focused defense blogs, and general discussion forums.
The system scans around 1,000 unclassified posts each day and filters them using a flagging system based on keyword analysis.
The assistant first identifies whether a post is relevant to the war. If it is, the system then assesses whether the content contains potentially valuable combat experience.
Posts are sorted using “green” and “red” flags: green signals useful insights, while red indicates irrelevant or low-quality material.
Green-flagged posts are further analyzed to determine whether they contain new information or repeat existing knowledge. These insights also help train the AI tool to generate new observations.
As the tool is still in its testing phase and exclusively working with open-source data, Musiyenko said, “It’s still too early to talk about full automation or independent AI-generated insights — human involvement is still necessary.”
He also shared that the center is developing a ChatGPT-like model for Ukrainian forces to aid officers in documenting insights and developing recommendations at speed.
