SoylentNews

Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/04/ukraines-military-robot-surge-aims-to-offset-drone-risks-to-humans/ [arstechnica.com]

Ukrainian ground robots and drones have demonstrated how to overcome a Russian military position by themselves while forcing the surrender of Russian soldiers, claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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The claim by Zelenskyy [x.com] has not been independently verified but was accompanied by a promotional video [reddit.com] in which he described Ukraine’s military robots as having completed over 22,000 missions in the last three months. Ukraine’s defense ministry also recently described a threefold increase in the Ukrainian military’s uncrewed ground vehicle missions over the last five months, with more than 9,000 robotic missions conducted in March, according to Scripps News [scrippsnews.com].
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Zelenskyy’s statement may refer to an event that occurred in the Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine last year, according to The Independent [the-independent.com]. It referenced a statement by the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Assault Brigade detailing how the unit had used flying drones and “kamikaze” ground robots to attack fortified Russian frontline positions at that time.
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The increased emphasis on battlefield robots coincides with how deadly flying drones have made the modern battlefield for human soldiers. Persistent drone surveillance and drone strikes have created a “kill zone” [ft.com] stretching 12 miles (20 kilometers) beyond the frontline positions as of February 2026, forcing individual soldiers to hunker down or rely on nighttime darkness, anti-thermal cloaks, or foggy conditions to move about without risking a drone strike. Such drones are now inflicting the majority of battlefield casualties [politico.eu] on both sides as the full-scale war enters its fifth year.
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By comparison, ground robot usage in the Russo-Ukrainian war has been relatively modest, with Ukraine reporting thousands of ground robot missions per month versus hundreds of thousands of drone sorties per month. Yet the latest numbers suggest the Ukrainian military has stepped up its effort to deploy more robots for supply runs and medical evacuations, which can reduce human exposure to drone threats.
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One example of such robots is the Droid TW 12.7 [devdroid.tech] developed by the Ukrainian company DevDroid. As described in the company’s marketing material, the tracked robot is armed with an M2 Browning machine gun mounted on a remotely controlled turret and capable of traveling up to 15 miles (25 kilometers) at a top speed equivalent to an adult’s walking pace.
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A deputy battalion commander of Ukraine’s 38th Marine Brigade told The Kyiv Independent [kyivindependent.com] that robots attempting to evacuate wounded soldiers failed to reach the positions in four out of five cases due to such complicating factors.

Like drones, robots can also face communication challenges from signal loss and enemy electronic warfare, according to the Lowy Institute [lowyinstitute.org].
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The commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps suggested that if military units incorporate more robots [x.com], they could reduce their infantry ranks by up to 30 percent by the end of this year. If Ukraine succeeds in that goal, it would mark another notable step for the growing robotic presence on the battlefield.

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