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. If true, that would represent a significant robotic milestone during the ongoing war that has already been significantly reshaped by drones—and it could offer lessons for how militaries worldwide may use robots and drones to do the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in future conflicts.
The claim by Zelenskyy has not been independently verified but was accompanied by a promotional video 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. The growing robotic ground presence represents a new trend in a war that has become synonymous with drones.
Zelenskyy’s statement may refer to an event that occurred in the Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine last year, according to The Independent. 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. The brigade’s statement also described Russian soldiers as surrendering to one of the unit’s robots after abandoning the battered fortifications. There are previous examples of individual or small groups of Russian soldiers surrendering to Ukrainian drones and even a robot while being recorded on video, so the idea of a group of Russian soldiers surrendering their position and themselves to a robot is not necessarily far-fetched. The battlefield exploits of such robots were also featured in a recent video by the Ukrainian government-run platform United24, which described a similar or possibly the same incident involving the same brigade.
The increased emphasis on battlefield robots coincides with flying drones having made the modern battlefield exceptionally deadly for human soldiers. Persistent drone surveillance and drone strikes have created a “kill zone” 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 on both sides as the full-scale war enters its fifth year. The latest military drones being tested by Ukraine in combat are integrating autonomous, onboard software and AI-powered capabilities to track and strike targets even if they lose communication with human operators because of enemy jamming.
Robots reporting for duty
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. Ukraine has also increasingly deployed such robots in combat roles, armed with machine guns and grenade launchers or sometimes equipped to explode like roving bombs.
One example of such robots is the Droid TW 12.7 developed by the Ukrainian company DevDroid. The company’s marketing material describes the tracked robot as being 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. The human operator can communicate with the robot via radio, and the robot can also incorporate Starlink’s satellite service.
But military robots can still fall prey to enemy drones and also face challenges in traversing battle-scarred landscapes. A deputy battalion commander of Ukraine’s 38th Marine Brigade told The Kyiv Independent 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. And Ukraine’s robotic efforts are in competition with the Russian military, which has similarly increased its use of robots on the frontlines over the winter of 2025–2026.
The ground robot surge can be seen as the latest response to the increased lethality of modern warfare dominated by drones. So current-generation robots may not deliver a decisive technological edge so much as provide another way for military commanders to mitigate modern battlefield risks for human soldiers. That mentality is exemplified by the commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps suggesting that military units incorporating more robots 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.
This story was updated to include information on the Droid TW 12.7.
