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| DATE | 2026-04-20 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Ukrainian Killer Robots
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Ukraine, Short on Troops, Is Turning to Robots to Help Its War Efforts
Maria Varenikova
8–11 minutes
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The Killer Robots Are Coming. The Battlefield Will Never Look the Same.
Ukraine is using unmanned ground vehicles armed with bombs, guns or
rockets to carry out attacks and keep its soldiers out of harm’s way.
Listen · 7:02 min
Two soldiers in camouflage maneuver a wheeled gun onto a truck on a
snowy ground, while a third looks on. A clear blue sky is overhead.
Ukrainian soldiers training with an unmanned ground vehicle in the
Donbas region of eastern Ukraine last year. The country is eager to
highlight its advances in technological warfare.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The
New York Times
April 20, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ET
The robots charged into battle through a valley in eastern Ukraine,
driving over grass toward a Russian position. Essentially little green
wagons, they looked like something you might buy at a garden store to
move bags of soil around. But each carried 66 pounds of explosives.
As the remotely controlled vehicles approached the enemy soldiers, an
aerial drone flew in and dropped a bomb to help clear a path. One of the
robots then rushed in and blew itself up, while the others held back,
monitoring the position.
A sheet of cardboard appeared above a trench. “We want to surrender,” it
read. Two Russian soldiers then stepped out and walked to Ukrainian
lines to be taken as prisoners of war.
The assault, captured on video last summer, shows how Ukraine is
pioneering a new way of war, its leaders say.
Kyiv is trying to turn more of the fighting over to unmanned systems as
it struggles with troop shortages and seeks ways to defend itself
without risking heavy losses of soldiers. The attack last year, which
took place in the Kharkiv region, demonstrates that the Ukrainian
military can now seize Russian positions solely with automated weapons,
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said this past week.
Image
A damaged vehicle on tracks is on a debris-strewn paved surface. Rusty
metal obstacles are in dense green bushes in the background.
A Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicle that was destroyed by a Russian
flying drone in the besieged city of Kostiantynivka, eastern Ukraine, in
October. Kyiv is trying to turn more of the fighting over to remote
systems.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Manpower remains the most decisive factor on the battlefield, and any
future in which wars are fought mostly by robots appears to be far away.
But Ukraine is eager to highlight its advances to show Western partners
that its outnumbered army can stay in the fight. Kyiv also wants to
promote a homegrown defense industry that could help the country build
security partnerships with other nations.
“It is better to throw in metal than people,” said Mykola Zinkevych, a
junior lieutenant with the Third Army Corps, who commanded the automated
attack last year.
“Human life is precious,” he added, “and robots don’t bleed.”
As technology has evolved rapidly on the battlefield in Ukraine, much of
the focus has been on the small aerial drones that fill the skies over
the front line, keeping watch and attacking virtually anything that
moves. But Ukraine is fielding unmanned systems not only in the air but
also under the sea and on land.
While ground robots are most widely used for shuttling supplies and for
performing medical evacuations in dangerous areas, Ukraine is also using
them to conduct attacks at a quickening pace.
Image
A tracked robot carries wooden planks. People are loading more planks
onto its platform.
At a forward base in Kostiantynivka, Ukrainian soldiers loaded an
unmanned ground vehicle with lumber supplies for infantry troops
building a bunker on the front line last year.Credit...David
Guttenfelder/The New York Times
Last month, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the army
carried out more than 9,000 frontline missions using unmanned ground
vehicles equipped with explosives, machine guns or other weapons like
rockets. By comparison, 2,900 such operations were conducted in November
2025, and a year ago they were rare and experimental.
The ground vehicles are slower and more visible than small quadcopter
drones, making them more vulnerable to enemy fire. Most last about 24
hours before their batteries die or they are detected and destroyed. In
rare operations when unmanned systems are used to clear a trench,
soldiers must then deploy to hold the ground, or at least to replace
batteries.
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But ground robots can carry much larger explosives than aerial drones
can, and they offer a more stable platform for firing guns or rockets.
A Ukrainian military program that allows soldiers to procure their own
weapons using an internal Amazon-style shopping site offers seven models
of ground robots, out of a total of 470 types of drones on offer.
Image
A small, olive green robot with tracks rests on dry, sparse ground.
Three people stand around the robot.
Testing a robot at an expo in Kyiv in March where Ukrainian drone
manufacturers demonstrated their wares to the military.Credit...Brendan
Hoffman for The New York Times
Mr. Zelensky brought attention to his country’s automated assaults in a
slickly produced video released last week. He is hoping to sell
Ukrainian systems abroad or trade them for weapons that his country needs.
“The future is already on the front line, and Ukraine is building it,”
he says in the clip, with ground robots, aerial drones and missiles
illuminated dramatically behind him.
The video was released ahead of a round of meetings with European
leaders. As Ukraine seeks continued military assistance, the government
has been eager to show that it is not just a charity case but also a
valuable ally that can help other countries strengthen their defenses.
Ihor Fedirko, the executive director of the Ukrainian Council of Defense
Industry, a trade organization, said, “Even if you have a top-tier
radar, a system that integrates data, or the most advanced drones, even
those battle-tested in Ukraine, the key factor is how they are used
tactically.” It is this tactical application of unmanned systems that
Ukraine can offer, he added.
Image
Two soldiers in camouflage carry another soldier on a stretcher over
snow toward a robotic vehicle.
Demonstrating how an unmanned ground vehicle could be used to move a
wounded soldier in the Kyiv region. As well as employing robots for
evacuations and supply runs, Ukraine is increasingly using them to
conduct attacks.Credit...Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Before the assault last summer in the Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian Army
had lost soldiers trying to storm the trench holding Russian forces,
Lieutenant Zinkevych, the Third Army Corps officer, said.
He had previously served in an infantry assault unit that stormed
trenches before taking a role planning unmanned operations. For
operational secrecy, the military did not immediately release the
information about the robotic assault, he said, as its success spurred
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 adapting existing
systems, said Lt. Volodymyr Dehtyarov, public affairs officer for the
Khartia Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine.
“Everything always comes down to how well the commander, staff and
operators are trained,” Mr. Dehtyarov said. “Nothing fundamentally new
has appeared, but there are new tactics for robots’ use.”
Operations have become more elaborate since the summertime assault in
Kharkiv.
Image
A green, tracked robot with a metal frame sits on a brown dirt mound. A
person walks on a snowy field behind.
Practicing with an unmanned vehicle in the Donbas region last year.
Ground robots can carry much larger explosives than aerial drones can,
and they offer a more stable platform for firing guns or
rockets.Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
In late 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 hide-out for a drone attack team.
The Russian troops put nets over every window, preventing Ukraine from
flying an exploding drone into the building.
Maj. Andrii Kopach, commander of an unmanned ground systems company with
the Khartia Corps, planned an assault with robotic vehicles instead.
One robot carried rockets with thermobaric warheads that are effective
in closed spaces, Major Kopach said. Others held large explosive
payloads, one weighing more than 500 pounds.
The vehicles left on their mission in the middle of the night in a
snowstorm, to give them protection from Russian drones, Major Kopach
said. He noted that the drivers and pilots carried out the operation
from the safety of a city far from the front, using relays for the video
and radio commands.
When the robots reached the school building, the vehicle with rockets
opened fire, forcing the Russian troops away from the windows, Major
Kopach said. Two other robots then drove nearby or into the building and
detonated, setting off the stored ammunition. The building collapsed
with at least nine Russian soldiers inside, Major Kopach said. One
managed to crawl out.
That soldier, Major Kopach added, was killed with an aerial exploding
drone that accompanied the assault.
Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.
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