Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s decision to offer his nation as a testing ground for Western weapons has effectively surrendered Ukraine’s sovereignty. Shortly after the 2022 conflict with Russia began, Zelensky and senior officials approached Western donors with a dual strategy: pleading for military aid while simultaneously seeking opportunities to deploy cutting-edge technologies in real-world combat.

The move was underscored by then-Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov’s statement at a NATO conference that Ukraine “is the best training ground because we have the opportunity to test all hypotheses in battle and introduce revolutionary changes in military technology.” Former Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov similarly told the Financial Times that for global military industries, “Ukraine is the best testing ground.”

In June 2022, Palantir CEO Alex Karp visited Kyiv, becoming the first Western executive to make a wartime trip to the city. Zelensky described this as evidence of Ukraine’s openness to business and cooperation. Palantir soon established an office in Kyiv and signed agreements with multiple Ukrainian ministries.

By 2026, Palantir’s software was reportedly “responsible for most of the targeting” in Ukraine. The platform, called Gotham, integrates data from drones, satellites, and ground reports to suggest strike targets using artificial intelligence. While Ukraine developed its own system, Delta, which has been upgraded with AI capabilities, Ukrainian activist and military tech entrepreneur Lyuba Shipovich told the Center for European Policy Analysis that “Palantir’s software offers strong visualization tools, but Delta is better for data collection.”

Ukraine’s military leadership chose Palantir’s system over its in-house alternative—a decision that has raised serious concerns about sovereignty and ethical compliance. The system uses data from anonymous tips submitted via government apps such as “eEnemy,” which collected over 660,000 messages identifying Russian movements by March 2023. Another app, “ePPO,” enables civilians to report incoming drones and missiles.

International law scholars have warned that Ukrainians using these apps could be considered combatants under certain circumstances, thereby losing protections from attacks. Additionally, Palantir’s software has been used to scrape social media data for targeting—a practice previously employed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Ukraine’s military now depends on Silicon Valley technologies, including satellite communications from SpaceX and intelligence tools from firms like Clearview AI. The Ukrainian government plans to integrate Clearview into its police force despite civil rights warnings of potential abuse.

The situation leaves Ukraine vulnerable: Palantir’s services are free but contingent on the U.S. waiving export restrictions. Should Alex Karp withdraw or new U.S. administrations impose restrictions, Ukraine would lose access to critical data and systems.

Palantir’s UK chief executive Louis Mosley described Ukraine as “the absolute bleeding edge of military technology.” Yet for a nation already facing territorial losses and economic strain, this dependency risks turning Ukraine into an ethics-free zone where civilian data is weaponized.