Evidence

The claim traces directly to a report published by The Atlantic (August 2026), citing two anonymous sources familiar with a Ukrainian military plan, codenamed roughly 'M&Ms,' to launch up to 1,000 small AI-guided drones against Moscow-area airports to shut down civilian air traffic and pressure Russian elites. Multiple outlets independently summarized and corroborated the existence and content of the Atlantic story, including Meduza, Kyiv Post, RBC-Ukraine, Euromaidan Press, and Ukrainian outlet UNN, all describing the same core details: the plan was reportedly presented to Zelensky in early/winter 2025-26, involved concerns about endangering civilian aircraft, and was tied to since-dismissed Defense Minister/official Mykhailo Fedorov, described as the plan's architect. However, none of these outlets provide independent verification beyond restating The Atlantic's sourcing — they are secondary reports of the same original story, not separate confirmation. Crucially, Ukraine's presidential office publicly and explicitly denied the account, calling it 'total nonsense' according to Meduza and other outlets. I found no fact-check or forensic investigation of this specific claim from Reuters Fact Check, AFP Fact Check, Bellingcat, or EUvsDisinfo — searches for such fact-checks did not return results, likely because this is a very recent journalistic report rather than a widely circulating piece of visual/social media disinformation of the type those organizations typically address.