The UK will be the first international partner to access Ukraine’s Avengers AI Labs, which holds imagery and video gathered by uncrewed aerial systems in Ukraine, using daylight and thermal sensors, and is used to develop, train and evaluate AI models.  

UK companies are now invited to submit proposals for how they would use the data to create AI models for the next generation of battlefield drones.

This is the first competition under the UK-Ukraine AI Partnership.

Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting MP said: "Ukraine is the frontline of freedom for us all. On my recent visit to Kyiv, I saw first-hand the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people. I also saw the extraordinary innovation which is allowing them to repel Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion.  

"This world-first access to real battlefield data will allow British companies to continue pushing the frontier of defence innovation, deterring our enemies and making us safer at home as well as further strengthening Ukraine."

AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said: "This is the Prime Minister’s AI Taskforce delivering: bringing together Ukraine’s hard-won battlefield experience with Britain’s best AI companies to develop and deploy capabilities faster.  

"It is exactly the kind of practical partnership the Taskforce was set up to drive, supporting our ally Ukraine while strengthening sovereign capability here in Britain."