Ukraine expands ground combat robot deployment with new army initiative for risky missions.

Ukraine is expanding its use of unmanned ground vehicles, with former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov announcing an “Army of Robots” initiative for risky tasks including reconnaissance, logistics, casualty evacuation and combat. Ukraine’s Third Army Corps says its Operation Vivaldi used bomber drones to deploy ground robots behind Russian lines, completing more than 15,700 missions and helping recapture territory; its claim that the operation caused 3,000 Russian casualties has not been independently verified. The effort reflects a broader shift toward ground robots alongside Ukraine’s established use of aerial drones, which officials say have supported many logistics and evacuation missions. Ukraine has also continued strikes inside Russia, including an attack on an industrial plant in Perm, while Russian authorities said they repelled strikes aimed at Moscow. Analysts and Ukrainian officials are debating whether Russia can restore mechanised assaults despite the persistent threat from drones and reports of armoured vehicles surviving repeated attacks.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said unmanned ground vehicles carried out more than 25,000 logistics and evacuation missions in August 2026, bringing the year-to-date total to about 112,000.
During Operation Vivaldi, Ukrainian crews used electronic warfare to jam Russian reconnaissance drones, helping conceal the ground robots as they were deployed behind Russian lines.
The Third Army Corps said Operation Vivaldi recaptured five villages and three settlements in Donetsk, covering about 48 square miles.
A separate Ukrainian summer strike campaign targeted Russian Wildberries warehouses and fuel ships supplying Crimea; the article reports that Ukrainian drones struck 35 Russian vessels from July 6 to 10, including 14 in one night.
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