A Ukrainian kamikaze ground robot struck a building occupied by Russian soldiers.

Social Media Capture

Russian troops hiding inside an abandoned apartment building in Kostiantynivka may have expected Ukrainian drones to come from above.

Instead, the assault came on wheels.

According to video footage shared by Ukraine’s 100th Separate Mechanized Brigade, eight Russian soldiers from a sabotage and reconnaissance group had infiltrated the city and entered an abandoned building that Ukrainian forces believed was intended to become a base for future operations.

The brigade said its commanders developed a robotic assault after nearby Ukrainian troops were judged insufficient to safely clear the position. Three unmanned ground vehicles were used. One acted as a decoy. Another, reportedly carrying 300 kilograms of explosives, drove into the building from the rear and detonated. A third delivered additional equipment to Ukrainian troops surrounding the damaged building.

Ukraine claimed the Russian troops refused to surrender and were later killed.

The strike highlights how unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, are increasingly moving beyond logistics and evacuation roles into direct assault missions. As aerial drones saturate the battlefield and manpower shortages intensify, both Ukraine and Russia are experimenting with robotic systems capable of carrying heavier payloads into fortified positions and urban combat zones.

Ukraine has been experimenting with explosive-laden ground robots for years. In 2023, I was with a Ukrainian unit from the 109th Territorial Defense Brigade at a training ground in Donetsk Oblast as soldiers tested a small remotely controlled vehicle. Later that day, they packed it with explosives and drove it into a Russian trench.

“Ground robots have tremendous potential for combined arms warfare, especially as an attritional direct fire asset for infantry,” Roy Gardiner, an open-source analyst tracking the war, told me.

Deborah Fairlamb, founding partner of Ukraine-focused venture capital firm Green Flag Ventures, told me that UGVs are already being used offensively. “They’re crucial for reducing human exposure to dangerous tasks,” she said.

But direct assaults may not be the first priority for many Ukrainian units. A Ukrainian soldier with the 3rd Assault Brigade, who asked to be identified by his callsign “El Greco” because of concerns for his family’s safety, told me that UGVs are usually prioritized first for logistics and evacuation, then for engineering tasks such as mine-clearing. Direct fire support, including kamikaze or armed assaults, comes last.

In April, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had tasked Ukraine’s defense minister and General Staff with ensuring a supply of at least 50,000 UGVs this year.

“The deployment of ground drones, particularly for logistics, frees up troops for other missions,” Clément Molin, an independent open-source analyst, told me.

UGVs used in kamikaze missions are increasingly being equipped with fiber-optic control links, which help them resist electronic jamming as they carry explosives toward the target. “Fiber optics and ground robots were made for each other,” Gardiner said.

But avoiding jamming does not make ground robots invulnerable. “About 75 to 80 percent” of UGVs are ultimately lost to enemy FPV drones, according to El Greco. “Very few are lost to jamming; most are destroyed by FPVs,” he said.

The intense drone pressure on the front means that ground robots have become a necessity.

According to an August 2025 report by the Kyiv Independent, the arrival of Russia’s elite Rubicon drone unit, which specializes in long-range fiber-optic FPV drones, forced Ukrainian brigades around Kostiantynivka to rethink frontline logistics under heavier drone pressure.

Kostiantynivka has also come under growing pressure from Russian infiltration groups moving through forests, damaged suburbs and destroyed buildings on the edges of the city.

Analysts and Ukrainian observers report that small Russian units are increasingly attempting to hide inside basements, ruined homes and urban districts, forcing Ukrainian troops into difficult clearing operations in dense terrain.

That environment favors systems capable of carrying explosives into fortified positions without requiring dangerous close-range infantry assaults. Unlike small aerial FPV drones, ground robots can carry significantly larger explosive payloads capable of collapsing buildings and fortified positions.

In July 2025, I attended a Ukrainian army UGV demonstration outside Kyiv, where Volodymyr Rovensky, an officer with the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Ground Systems Development Department for Unmanned Systems, said combat operations accounted for only about 12% of UGV missions at the time, with most focused on logistics, evacuation and engineering tasks.

Still, Rovensky argued Ukraine would need to continue expanding the role of UGVs on the battlefield. “Ukraine must invest in these technologies and deliver modern systems that can ultimately reduce the need for infantry on the front line,” Rovensky said.

Now, with the war well into its fifth year, Ukraine continues fighting an asymmetric war against a larger Russian military while facing persistent manpower challenges. As urban fighting intensifies and manpower pressures grow, robots are increasingly being pushed into missions once carried out by infantry.