UKRAINE is set to unleash 25,000 robots as front-line “cavalry” in a dramatic boom of unmanned warfare.
Kyiv is on course to manufacture 25,000 unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in the first half of 2026 alone as commanders increasingly rely on robots.
Sign up for The Jattvibe newsletter
Thank you!
Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) have become a major part of Ukraine’s war effort Credit: Reuters
They are used to launch attacks, lay mines and evacuate Ukrainian troops Credit: Reuters
These futuristic machines are capable of laying mines, evacuating wounded troops, delivering supplies and even attacking enemy positions.
They are already transforming the battlefield, with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky revealing that a record 10,281 resupply and evacuation missions were carried out by UGVs in April, compared with just 2,900 in November.
One recent mission near Novoselivka in Donetsk showed how quickly the technology is changing combat.
An Ardal ground robot was sent to cross open terrain and place an anti-tank mine on a bridge before Russian troops could swoop in on it.
Read more on the Ukraine war
DON’S CALL
Trump announces three-day ceasefire in Ukraine and says end to conflict is near
RAINING HELL
How Putin’s forces are luring kids to their deaths with ‘gingerbread’ MINES
One high-tech machine intercepted three Russian troops while laying an anti-tank mine Credit: censor.net
It stalked the trio and detonated the mine right by them, killing all three Credit: censor.net
However after operators spotted three Russian soldiers nearby, they changed course and detonated the mine, killing the troops and sacrificing their bot.
Ukraine’s elite K-2 Brigade, based four miles away, considered the loss of the machine to be a minor issue.
“We have thousands of UGVs in total,” Major Oleksandr Afanasiev, the UGV battalion commander of the K-2 Brigade, told The Telegraph.
“The main reason we use UGVs is to save soldiers’ lives.”
The K-2 Brigade is believed to be the first military brigade in the world dedicated entirely to unmanned ground warfare.
Ukraine’s robot army was born out of necessity after Russian drones turned huge stretches of the front into deadly “kill zones” where troops could barely move without being targeted.
Armoured vehicles were being destroyed faster than they could be replaced, forcing Ukrainian forces to rely on pickup trucks before drivers also began dying in large numbers.
Afanasiev explained: “We started using UGVs because we actually ran out of pickup drivers and vehicles.
“We didn’t have enough for them to risk their lives; it was too dangerous at that point.”
K2 began in 2017 as a small reconnaissance unit before evolving into the 20th Separate Regiment of Unmanned Systems in December 2024, focused entirely on drones and UGVs.
By autumn 2025, it had become a fully robotic military brigade.
The effectiveness and mass production of its numbers has skyrocketed. since.
Afanasiev told The Telegraph: “Many commanders have now realised that they can’t manage without them.”
The Ardal robot used in the Donetsk mission is a compact tracked vehicle designed for logistics and remote mining operations, though it can also carry combat weapons including grenade launchers.
Other UGVs used by K-2 include the Tarhan 200, Tarhan 300, Rys PRO and SIM-RACAR-Lambda.
A single mission can last up to 10 hours and cover 30 miles, with operations controlled by a 10-person team made up of drivers, drone pilots and ground crews.
In April alone, K-2 robots evacuated more than 40 people from dangerous front-line positions and recovered the bodies of eight Ukrainian soldiers left stranded since November.
The brigade has also experimented with flamethrowers mounted on robots and attaching captured Russian rifles to some machines.
Afanasiev said hybrid engines combining electric and conventional fuel would soon increase the robots’ range from 30 miles to around 90 miles, allowing them to strike far deeper behind enemy lines.
But he believes the biggest impact will be psychological.
He said: “It’s vitally important for a soldier to know that if he gets horrendously wounded, something is going to rapidly get him back to a medical post, and that he’ll live and see his family again.”
