Ukraine's war robot usage jumped 122% in 6 months as the frontline 'kill zone' for human troops grows
By
Matthew Loh
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Nina Liashonok/Ukrinform/NurPhoto
Ukraine said on Thursday that its forces had conducted over 16,000 missions with ground drones in June alone, more than double its January tally.
"From logistics to medical evacuation, UGV units are taking over the most dangerous tasks," Ukraine's defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said in a social media post on X announcing June's figures.
By comparison, Ukrainian forces carried out 7,511 ground drone missions in the first month of 2026.
Usage of these uncrewed ground vehicles grew more slowly, reaching 9,072 in March, before jumping to 11,028 in April, 14,059 in May, and 16,676 in June.
"So, in the first month of summer, the use of NRC increased by 18.6% compared to May, and by 122% compared to January," the defense ministry said in a statement, referring to the Ukrainian abbreviation for ground drones.
In total, the first six months of 2026 involved over 66,300 mission tasks carried out with ground drones, the ministry said.
The reported tally covers logistics and evacuation missions, "replacing military personnel in the most difficult areas of the front," the defense ministry said.
Some of Ukraine's ground drones are also fitted with small arms to conduct assaults or hold combat positions, but in recent months, Kyiv's forces have placed greater emphasis on delivering critical supplies to their troops.
Enemy surveillance and attack drones prowl the distance behind the front, creating "kill zones" that can stretch for 50 km into Ukrainian-held territory in some areas.
These areas are so saturated with drones that they put any human soldier or armored vehicle at high risk of being spotted and attacked.
One of Ukraine's solutions to preserve its already stretched troops is to flood these battlefield supply routes with ground drones instead — often wheeled or tracked buggies laden with food, ammo, and water.
Over the last two months, Ukrainian units have also been converting aerial bomber, attack, and surveillance drones to carry supplies instead.
Ukraine's defense ministry said that it plans to eventually "transfer up to 100% of frontline logistics to robotic solutions."
Its forces have contracted more than 22,000 new ground drones to be delivered to the front lines this year, and the ministry said it expects to procure additional systems for 2026.
Read next
Matthew Loh
You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Matthew is a senior reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau, primarily covering defense and how the war in Ukraine is rapidly changing battle technology and tactics.He joined the team in June 2021, previously focusing on internet crime and labor, examining how these issues impact modern society in Asia, with a particular emphasis on China.In 2024, he won the Singapore Press Club's Young Journalist of the Year Award. His work from 2023 also won a silver award from the North American Travel Journalists Association and accolades from Longreads.Matthew's previous work has been featured in the South China Morning Post, as well as Singaporean news companies TODAY and The Business Times.As a student, Matthew's coverage of migrant workers' nutrition in Singapore during the COVID pandemic won the SOAP Story of the Month award and the Student Category prize in the International Labor Organization's 2021 Global Media Competition on Labour Migration.Selected features:
- Death on the Savage Mountain: What really happened on K2, and why 100 climbers stepped over a dying man on their way to the summit
- The nuclear weapons era is making a comeback, and experts say we're all not paying attention
- How nets from a Danish fishing village found their way into Ukraine's modern war
- Inside Ukraine's race to crank out unjammable, fiber-optic drones that can break through Russia's electronic warfare
- Finding Dora
- Ukraine War