The Ukrainian army uses “land robots” for dangerous missions

The Ukrainian Army is steadily replacing dangerous tasks on the battle fronts with ground robots. In April 2026, President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the military to deploy at least 50,000 unmanned ground vehicles, calling it “the next big step” in saving soldiers’ lives.

The head of the Unmanned Ground Vehicles Department at the Ukrainian Defense Innovation Platform, Ihor Shmyryov, expects Ukraine to exceed Zelensky’s target once direct purchases of field units are taken into account. He said: “In the first half of 2026, 25,000 unmanned ground vehicles were contracted to deploy on the front, and this represents twice the number that was contracted for the entire year of 2025.”

“The goal is to replace the infantryman on the front line with other means, as much as possible,” he added. This means combining drones with unmanned ground vehicles, and Kiev is already working on implementing this vision. In April alone, Shmyryov said, Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicles carried out more than 10,000 missions, most of which were to deliver supplies to front-line sites. As the battlefield becomes more dangerous, the demand for machines capable of replacing soldiers continues to rise.

Safer battles

Last March, the commander of the Ukrainian Army’s Third Corps, Andrey Beletsky, said that unmanned ground vehicles could eventually replace up to a third of soldiers along the front.

For his part, Heiner Philipp, an engineer at the “Technology United for Ukraine” organization, said: “Drones and unmanned vehicles can make battles safer.”

Ukrainian forces can now spot Russian forces and strike them day and night, often targeting positions before infantry forces advance. Increasingly, it is no longer the soldier who first steps across that terrain, but the robot. In the same context, Pavel Shurmy, from the Ukrainian Kastos Kalinovsky Regiment, said that his unit initially experimented with unmanned ground vehicles equipped with machine guns, but now they use them mainly for logistical tasks, as these systems have found their more prominent role on the battlefield.

Another mission is to counter Russia’s increasing use of small infiltration groups, allowing armed unmanned ground vehicles to engage them without endangering more soldiers within the engagement zone covered by the drones.

“This primarily involves engaging enemy personnel and equipment, and this is already in operation on the front lines,” Shmirov continued, adding: “Robots can patrol and maintain positions.”

The role of robots

In February, the Lava Regiment, an advanced military unit for unmanned systems, affiliated with the 2nd Khartiya Corps, cleared a Russian stronghold near Kubyansk, using ground robots, suicide unmanned ground robots, and attack drones without sending infantry to the target. Two months later, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced the formation of “drone attack units,” integrating aerial drones, ground robots and infantry into a single multi-weapon system, with ground robots also assuming engineering tasks.

Dima, a soldier in the Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade, said that his unit uses unmanned ground vehicles to deploy barbed wire and barriers in front of defensive sites. He added: “It is difficult. As soon as the robot advances to the front line, the enemy forces try to strike and destroy it.”

Robotics development

Developers are working to expand the capabilities of unmanned ground vehicles, as Ratel Robotics has begun testing net launchers mounted on ground robots to intercept low-flying drones.

Last June, the Ukrainian Army’s 3rd Corps unveiled an AI-powered automated air defense system capable of autonomously detecting, tracking and attacking air targets, highlighting the speed with which unmanned ground vehicles are developing.

An official from the Ukrainian Defense Innovation Platform says that unmanned ground vehicles supported by artificial intelligence are already being used on the front lines in missions ranging from fire support to air defense, including engaging Russian suicide planes.

It is not a substitute for pedestrians

Ukrainian commanders began planning attacks based on what the robots could achieve before soldiers advanced.

The presence of more capable robots does not mean that infantry forces are on the way out. “Unmanned ground vehicles can support frontal attacks and weaken enemy forces,” said George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War.

He added: “It is not an ideal substitute for pedestrians. “Ultimately, there will always be a need for traditional infantry to occupy and control territory,” he said, noting that current systems are still vulnerable to direct-vision drones and mines, and armed unmanned ground vehicles still need to be manually resupplied with ammunition after it is exhausted. About “Asia Times”

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Russian use of robots

Poor communications remains one of the biggest barriers to deploying ground robots on a large scale. Instead of relying on a single wireless link between operator and robot, mesh networks allow drones, unmanned ground vehicles, and ground stations to relay commands across one another, making robotic formations resilient to interference.

In this regard, the former commander of the Ukrainian “Shosen Company” volunteer unit, Ryan O’Leary, says: “Mesh networks are a prerequisite for the widespread use of unmanned ground vehicles.”

Russia is seeking to apply many of the same concepts. Center for a New American Security fellow, Samuel Bendet, said that Russian forces are using unmanned vehicles for logistical missions, casualty evacuation and combat missions, including systems such as Currier, Depesha, and Impulse, along with robots made by units on the front line. However, he believes that Ukraine currently still has an advantage in the field of deployment, explaining: “The total number is likely to be “The Russian unmanned ground vehicles used on the front today are fewer than their Ukrainian counterparts.”

He believed that communications restrictions had limited Russia’s wider use of them. However, he sees both militaries increasingly realizing that ground robots are becoming essential on a battlefield dominated by drones.

Industry boom

The unmanned ground vehicle industry in Ukraine is witnessing a great boom, and a study conducted by the KSE Institute, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Defense Innovation Platform and Defense Builder, showed that the unmanned ground vehicle market in Ukraine grew by 488% in 2025.