A Robot Army Remakes Ground Warfare in Ukraine
They began as supply mules. Now ground robots evacuate the wounded, hold trenches and even do the killing. Training with an unmanned vehicle, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, in 2025. Battalions of ground robots now conduct thousands of missions every month. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times By Maria Varenikova and Paul Mozur Maria Varenikova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine July 13, 2026 Updated 12:09 p.m. ET While flying drones have grabbed the world’s attention and rewritten the rules of combat, a quieter revolution is crawling along beneath them on the battlefield in Ukraine. Battalions of ground robots — tracked and wheeled machines that deliver supplies, haul ammunition, evacuate the wounded, lay mines and, increasingly, hold land — now conduct thousands of missions every month. That has made them an indispensable tool for Ukrainian infantrymen who spend monthslong rotations in buried bunkers hiding from flying drones. At the cutting edge, unmanned ground vehicles a...