- Ukraine’s war increasingly relies on drones and robots rather than frontline soldiers
- Operations involve explosive robots guided remotely by commanders from control centres
- Russian soldiers call robotic bomb carriers “silent death” due to stealth
Ukraine's war against Russia is increasingly being fought by machines rather than soldiers on the battlefield. Far from the frontlines, commanders who once fought in some of the war's bloodiest battles now direct attacks through screens, livestreams and drones instead of leading troops into combat.
A single operation can involve several explosive-laden robots targeting Russian positions without a single Ukrainian soldier setting foot on the ground, according to a report by CNN. The attacks are monitored from reconnaissance drones overhead while operators guide the machines remotely from control centres.
Faced with a prolonged manpower shortage and uncertainty over continued Western support, Ukraine has rapidly expanded its use of unmanned systems. Drones, robotic vehicles and remotely controlled weapons platforms are now playing a growing role in Kyiv's war effort, giving it a technological advantage against a larger Russian force.
In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had, for the first time, captured a Russian position using only robots and drones. He also said unmanned systems had carried out 22,000 missions since the beginning of the year.
Russian Soldiers Call It "Silent Death"
According to Ukrainian troops, captured Russian soldiers have given these robotic bomb carriers a grim nickname - "silent death". The machines move quietly enough that Russian troops often hear them only when they are about 10 metres away, already within the blast zone.
For commanders who once fought house-to-house battles in eastern Ukraine, the transformation has been dramatic.
"I couldn't even imagine such a thing, back then," said Bar, a deputy commander who previously fought in Donbas. "But I realise that if such equipment had been available at the time... more of my comrades would have survived."
Reflecting on how warfare has changed, he added, "Back then, war was somehow more, shall we say, masculine. It was your skills that mattered there - how well you'd trained, how disciplined you were, and so on. Now, technology decides everything. There is no going back."
Ukraine's growing reliance on automation is partly driven by necessity. After more than four years of war, the country's smaller population has paid a heavy price in casualties. As a result, Kyiv has focused on expanding drone production and improving the effectiveness of unmanned systems.
Ukraine Aims To Kill 35,000 Russians A Month
Ukrainian officials now aim to inflict around 35,000 Russian casualties every month, a target they say has been met this year. The strategy is intended to increase pressure on the Kremlin by forcing it to recruit more heavily from Russia's urban population and middle classes.
A new estimate released on Wednesday by Britain's intelligence agency GCHQ put Russia's total military death count at around 500,000.
What was once a novelty on the battlefield has quickly become a normal part of Ukraine's military operations. Robots are now being used to evacuate wounded soldiers, deliver supplies to frontline positions and carry out attacks, a sign of how rapidly warfare is changing on the frontlines of Europe's largest conflict in decades.
