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After more than four years of brutal war in Ukraine, remotely controlled ground robots are taking command on the battlefield. Specifically, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade was able to recapture territory solely using unmanned ground vehicles and drones. He emphasized that this was the first such mission during the conflict, according to The Independent. "The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side," he said, referring to an operation in the northeastern Kharkiv region last year during which Ukrainian infantry took up positions.
As Nikolai Zinkevich, commander of the NC13 BNTS strike unit who conducted the operation in the Kharkiv region, told reporters, the 3rd Assault Brigade wants to replace approximately 30% of its infantry with unmanned ground vehicles to reduce personnel losses. "The logic is simple: where the risk to humans is high, a robot should be used. Because an infantryman’s life is priceless, and robots don’t bleed. We’re working on a model in which unmanned ground vehicles will perform the most dangerous tasks, while the infantry will become a highly specialized unit, focused on what unmanned ground vehicles can’t do," Zinkevich explained. At the same time, unit operator and senior sergeant Yaroslav Drobish says the increasingly frequent use of the BNTS has significantly eased the workload of infantrymen, as these vehicles perform many logistical tasks and transport large volumes of ammunition without loss. "This is a new stage of war. Having lived the life of an assault infantryman, I know from personal experience the true value of every meter of our land. That’s why I deeply understand the value of solutions that reduce the risk to human life," the defense attorney emphasized. The military notes that this is the world’s first UAV strike unit, which started from scratch, without a military doctrine for using these vehicles in modern combat. "Ukraine is now a world leader in their production and use; last year, its UAV market grew by 488 percent, according to research by the KSE Institute, BRAVE1, and Defence Builder," The Independent recalled. These vehicles have already transformed logistics on the front lines. While a modern infantryman can carry an average of 20 kg of equipment, unmanned ground logistics vehicles can transport cargo weighing between 200 and 600 kg to frontline positions. Zinkevich says the unit has conducted more than 100 strike operations using the BNTS over the past few months. "During these operations, we destroyed enemy troops, shelters, command posts, and other high-value targets. This is daily, systematic combat work," the commander said. Among the most widely used robotic units is the TW12.7, produced by the Ukrainian company DevDroid. This vehicle, equipped with a top-mounted Browning machine gun, was actively used by the unit on the front lines.
Oleh Fedoryshyn, head of research and design at DevDroid, added that the BNTS has changed the way Ukrainian troops hold positions. "It’s easier to monitor an area for 24 hours when you’re sitting in a safe zone 50 kilometers away from an unmanned ground vehicle, and you can swap with the team and have someone else do it," he explained. The Independent noted that the average price of such a system for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, sold by DevDroid, starts at $30,000. This price can reach $50,000 if the BNTS is equipped with a Browning machine gun, and the price increases significantly if sold to armed forces of countries other than Ukraine. "We’re trying to produce unmanned ground vehicles that will be operational a year from now. We’re simply trying to imagine how they’ve changed, how the front lines are changing, how the world is changing. And our product shouldn’t become obsolete within a year. We talk to them about this every day, and they suggest some improvements," Fedoryshyn emphasized. He estimated that about 10-15% of the robots sent by the company were lost in combat. At the same time, experts have warned that the growing use of robots carries risks. The physical distance between the operator and the lethal weapon raises concerns about the use of force.
"When we have a capability designed to use force that is controlled remotely, there is a risk that the threshold for the use of force is lowered… and civilians are potentially exposed to the risk of becoming the primary target of force," explained Professor Elke Schwartz, an expert in military technology at Queen Mary University. However, she added that Ukraine is developing tactics for using such means "out of necessity" and in the face of an existential threat.
