According to reporting from France 24, a first confirmed autonomous drone strike resulting in civilian casualties has been revealed through statements from a Ukrainian defense official. The incident, a test conducted two years ago, involved fully autonomous systems programmed to eliminate targets in a designated area — with confirmed deaths resulting. Mariarosaria Taddeo, professor of digital ethics and defense technologies at Oxford University, warns that such autonomous weapons are inherently indiscriminate. "These systems cannot and will not distinguish between combatants and civilians," she explains, meaning "civilians will be put in harm's way" whenever these systems are deployed.

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