KIEV, Ukraine — The robots charged into battle through a valley in eastern Ukraine, crossing the grass toward a Russian position. Essentially little green carts, they looked like something you’d buy at a garden store to transport bags of soil. But each carried 30 kilograms of explosives.
As the remote-controlled vehicles approached enemy soldiers, an aerial drone flew overhead and dropped a bomb to help clear the way. One of the robots then quickly advanced and blew itself up, while the others retreated, monitoring the position.
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A sheet of cardboard appeared above a trench. “We want to surrender,” he said. Two Russian soldiers then got out and walked to the Ukrainian lines to be taken prisoners of war.
The attack, caught on video last summer, shows how Ukraine is pioneering a new form of warfare, its leaders say.
Ukraine is trying to shift more of its fighting to unmanned systems as it faces troop shortages and seeks ways to defend itself without risking major personnel losses.
Last year’s attack, which took place in the Kharkiv region, demonstrates that the Ukrainian army can now take Russian positions using only automated weapons, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Human power remains the most decisive factor on the battlefield, and any future in which wars are fought primarily by robots still seems distant.
But Ukraine is eager to highlight its advances and show Western partners that its outnumbered army can keep fighting. The country also wants to promote a national defense industry that can help it build security partnerships with other nations.
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“It’s better to send metal than people,” said Mykola Zinkevych, a second lieutenant in the 3rd Army Corps who commanded the automated attack last year.
“Human life is precious,” he added, “and robots don’t bleed.”
As technology has rapidly evolved on the battlefield in Ukraine, much of the attention has focused on the small aerial drones that fill the skies over the front line, surveilling and attacking virtually anything that moves.
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Ukraine is employing unmanned systems not only in the air, but also at sea and on land.
While ground robots are mostly used to transport supplies and carry out medical evacuations in dangerous areas, Ukraine is also using them to conduct attacks at an increasing rate.
Last month, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, the Army carried out more than 9,000 front-line missions using unmanned ground vehicles equipped with explosives, machine guns or other weapons such as rockets.
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By comparison, 2,900 such operations were carried out in November 2025, and a year ago they were rare and experimental.
Ground vehicles are slower and more visible than small quadcopter drones, which makes them more vulnerable to enemy fire.
Most last about 24 hours before their batteries run out or they are detected and destroyed.
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In rare operations where unmanned systems are used to clear a trench, soldiers still need to be sent in afterward to hold position, or at least to change batteries.
But ground-based robots can carry much larger explosives than aerial drones and offer a more stable platform from which to fire weapons or rockets.
A Ukrainian military program that allows soldiers to purchase their own weapons through an internal Amazon-style shopping site offers seven models of ground robots, out of a total of 470 types of drones available.
Zelenskyy drew attention to his country’s automated attacks in a well-produced video. He hopes to sell Ukrainian systems abroad or exchange them for weapons the country needs.
“The future is already on the front lines, and Ukraine is building it,” he says in the video, with ground robots, aerial drones and missiles illuminated dramatically behind him.
Before last summer’s attack in the Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian army had lost soldiers trying to storm the trench occupied by Russian forces, said Zinkevych, an officer with the 3rd Army Corps.
He had previously served in an infantry assault unit that raided trenches before taking on an unmanned operations planning role.
For reasons of operational secrecy, the military did not immediately release information about the robotic attack, he said, as its success prompted other units to try similar tactics.
The use of unmanned ground vehicles in attacks is less about cutting-edge technology and more about instruction in how to adapt existing systems, said Lt. Volodymyr Dehtyarov, public affairs officer at the Khartia Corps of the Ukrainian National Guard.
“It always comes down to how well the commander, crew and operators are trained,” Dehtyarov said. “Nothing fundamentally new has emerged, but there are new tactics for using robots.”
Operations have become more elaborate since the summer attack in Kharkiv.
At the end of February, Russian soldiers occupied a school in the city of Kupiansk, in eastern Ukraine. They used the building, which had thick walls, to store ammunition and as a hideout for a drone strike team.
Russian troops placed nets over all the windows, preventing Ukraine from launching an explosive drone into the building.
Lt. Andrii Kopach, commander of an unmanned ground systems company in the Khartia Corps, planned an attack with robotic vehicles instead.
A robot carried rockets with thermobaric warheads, effective in enclosed spaces, Kopach said. Others carried large explosive charges, one of them weighing more than 225 kilograms.
The vehicles left for the mission in the middle of the night, during a snowstorm, to protect themselves from Russian drones, Kopach said. He noted that operators carried out the operation from the safety of a city far from the front line, using relays for video and radio commands.
When the robots arrived at the school building, the rocket vehicle opened fire, forcing Russian troops to move away from the windows, Kopach said. Two other robots then approached or entered the building and detonated, triggering the stored ammunition.
The building collapsed with at least nine Russian soldiers inside, Kopach said. One managed to crawl out.
That soldier, Kopach added, was killed by an explosive aerial drone that accompanied the attack.
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