●Ukraine forces Russians to surrender using only robots
●Zelensky claims enemy position seized autonomously for the first time – without any of his troops being put at risk
Ukrainian forces have seized a Russian position using only drones and ground-based robots for the first time, Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine’s president claimed that the enemy soldiers surrendered during the operation without any of his troops being put at risk.
In an address to mark Ukrainian Gunsmith Day, he said: “For the first time in the history of this war, an enemy position was taken exclusively by unmanned systems – ground systems and drones.
“The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side.”
The proliferation of drones and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) on the battlefield, which can be piloted by human soldiers from a safer location miles away, is rapidly superseding the use of infantry in Ukraine.
UGVs are used for a range of missions, including assault operations, evacuating wounded troops from so-called “kill zones” where the risks to human life are almost untenable, detecting and neutralising mines, logistics and supply runs, and reconnaissance.
More than 280 companies have been developing ground robots in Ukraine. From just hundreds of units in 2024, Kyiv aims to produce more than 20,000 this year, with 99 per cent domestically made.
They have a range of up to 31 miles, and many front-line models cost the equivalent of £7,500 to £22,000.
More than 22,000 missions have been carried out in the last three months using ground robotic systems such as the Ratel, TerMIT, Ardal, Rys, Zmiy, Protector and Volia, according to Mr Zelensky.
The number of tasks they are able to perform increases every month.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Ukrainian army chief, said recently that robotic complexes completed 50 per cent more military tasks in March compared with the month before. Some brigades have even launched UGV-dedicated units.
“In other words, lives were saved more than 22,000 times when a robot went into the most dangerous areas instead of a warrior. This is about high technology protecting the highest value – human life,” Mr Zelensky said on Monday.
He did not specify where the incident took place or what the circumstances were.
The role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the battlefield is established, but UGVs, a comparatively recent development, have completed increasingly daring missions in recent months.
In December, an unmanned ground vehicle known as the DevDroid TW 12.7, armed with a .50-calibre M2 Browning machine gun, held off Russian soldiers from a Ukrainian position for 45 days on its own while soldiers operated it some 15 miles away.
It received maintenance and reloading from human soldiers every 48 hours.
In January, three Russian soldiers were shown in footage setting down their guns and surrendering to an armed UGV near Lyman, in the first recorded instance of such an incident.
The same month, Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade also released a clip depicting a kamikaze UGV carrying 12 TM-62 anti-tank mines advancing on Russian troops sheltering from the droid.
In March, Ukraine managed to rescue two prisoners of war from a soldier escorting them using several strike drones, which chased the Russian while the captives escaped his grasp.
Earlier this month, members of the 12th Special Purpose Brigade “Azov” deployed a “Zmiy” UGV for the first time to put out a fire in Kramatorsk.
The turn to robots comes as Russia increases its use of “double tap” strikes targeting emergency responders, with more than 100 such incidents in 2025, according to Truth Hounds, a human rights organisation investigating war crimes in Ukraine.
The first recorded robot-only assault on a Russian position took place in 2024.
Last month, Andriy Biletsky, the commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps, said that up to 30 per cent of Ukraine’s infantry could be replaced by UGVs this year, and up to 80 per cent in the future.
Other commanders have been more reticent, cautioning that they remain vulnerable to electronic warfare, terrain constraints, weather conditions and attacks by Russian drones.
“Current unmanned and autonomous systems remain short of abilities required to replace humans at scale,” Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former Ukrainian army chief, said late last year.
Russia also uses a range of home-made UGVs in Ukraine, most prominently the Courier combat UGV. The Courier has been extensively commended on state television, which claims it can travel up to 16 miles for up to five hours autonomously.
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