Russia's notorious Wagner Group mercenaries are secretly developing “swarm drones” in a shadowy arms deal with Chinese spies, the Mirror can reveal.
The explosive-tipped and bomb-dropping drones from China would be deployed in large numbers — devastating multiple targets of civilians or troops.
Moscow’s killer swarm project has involved secretive meetings between Chinese cyber experts, the Wagner Group and spies from both countries.
It contradicts Beijing's claims that it is not involved in the Ukraine war which is becoming increasingly a shadowy conflict between the west and east.
More than 2,500 helicopter-style DJI Mavic2 drones were shipped from Beijing to Moscow in a murky deal between Wagner officers, Moscow spooks and Beijing's spy networks.
Moscow’s high-tech drone plans emerged as Ukrainian forces arrived in the UK to undergo intensive training in how to operate Challenger II tanks.
An intelligence report seen by the Daily Mirror reveals: "The group is attempting to develop a swarm platform for coordinated autonomous drone orchestration using the 2,500 delivered recently from China.
“The communications channel between the Wagnerites and the Chinese Communist Party is in two cloaked networks, one in Russia and one in China.
“That network is responsible for the clandestine shipments of war materials being used against Ukraine, regardless of how much the Chinese deny it."
A swarm network is one in which large numbers of aerial robots directed by artificial intelligence can storm one common goal together.
That goal would be either to cause maximum destruction or create a mass aerial spy ring that can feed huge amounts of targets back to artillery or air-attack controllers at one time.
Wagner Group now has an IT research and development office in Putin's St Petersburg home town to develop China-style "bot farms" and the new warm drone technology.
One arms expert said: "This swarm drone technology is at the centre of the new arms race - and Russia is throwing everything it has at it.
“By using artificial intelligence it could launch a swarm of drones, which would be much harder to defend against, having it a specific mission.
“The swarm would then be able to either feed mass surveillance imagery back to a base in real-time so that it can be targeted or attack with bombs or both."