How robots became a lifeline for frontline troops in eastern Ukraine

“The toys have arrived,” a Ukrainian soldier whispered into the radio.

In the dead of night, he and his partner moved quickly to push the goods out of the truck. Speed ​​is of the essence as they are within range of deadly Russian drones.

The 5th Brigade’s new “toy” is an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), a robot that provides a lifeline to Ukrainian forces on the front lines in Pokrovsk and Mirnograd, the strategic hub in eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces are relentlessly trying to cut off Ukraine’s supply routes in the region.

Without fresh food and ammunition, Ukrainian frontline soldiers face the choice of surrender or a costly retreat.

Kiev has sent special forces, elite commandos and drone units to reinforce troops in and around Pokrovsk, but Russian control of routes into the city means armored vehicle entry is almost certain to cause fatalities.

Transporting heavy materials on foot can be equally dangerous.

This is where robots, also known as land drones, come in to replace traditional troop deployments.

The Battle of Pokrovsk will likely go down in history as the first large-scale use of unmanned ground vehicles, primarily to deliver supplies and evacuate the wounded.

The robot is small enough to squeeze into bike lanes and looks like a mini tank without a turret.

UGVs are difficult to detect, harder to jam than drones, and best of all, soldiers can operate them remotely from a more secure location.

Ihor, head of unmanned systems of the 7th Army of the Ukrainian Army, said that they save the lives of soldiers and are the future of the army.

He said that currently about 90% of the supplies on the Pokrovsk front line are transported by unmanned vehicles.

Meanwhile, Russian forces are trying to capture the city by blocking supply chains and relentlessly launching remote-controlled drones to target anything moving in the so-called “kill zone.”

This 30-kilometer-wide territory along the front line can be reached by drones from both sides.

Continuous aerial reconnaissance means that any activity within the kill zone will be quickly detected and attacked by drones as well as conventional weapons such as artillery, mortars and aerial bombs.

It’s a situation that medic Wizzik and his auditors, land drone operators, know all too well. These are their call signs, not their real names.

As they tried to evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers from Pokrovsk last month, they were quickly spotted and had just seconds to rush to nearby houses to escape the buzz of Russian drones.

“Drone after drone hit us,” Wizzik recalled. “As soon as the drone hit the ground and exploded, the next one appeared immediately. They also fired artillery and mortars to try to kill us.”

The wall behind which Vizzik and Audit were hiding shook with each explosion. The barrage lasted for 59 minutes before they eventually slipped into a neighboring building and escaped.

On the territory of Pokrovsk, the threat of drones from above is always present.

“We were running from bush to bush, house to house, street to street,” Wizik said.

Thanks to these “first-person view” drones, the Russian army has cut off almost all routes to Pokrovsk.

They claim to have surrounded the entire region, but Kyiv has repeatedly denied this.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s HUR intelligence agency, told local media that the situation in Pokrovsk was “extremely difficult” but that Ukraine was “still holding on there.”

However, moving troops in and around cities is extremely dangerous, and the Ukrainian army has tried to limit the rotation of personnel in and out due to the higher risks.

As a result, soldiers remained on the front lines for weeks, sometimes months.

This makes delivering supplies an even more urgent task, meaning demand for driverless ground vehicles is growing.

A unit of the 5th Brigade can perform multiple logistics missions in a single day using unmanned ground vehicles.

Each mission began in a dilapidated garage, and the one I watched involved delivering water, ammunition, and fuel to the drone pilot.

The supplies are carried on a land drone called Termit, which can carry about 200 kilograms. The operator drives it via remote control to the back of the truck, bringing it closer to the front lines to conserve batteries.

When it got dark, two soldiers jumped out of the truck and rolled out the unmanned vehicle.

One of them radioed the control room that the land drone had been unloaded.

Within seconds, an operator several kilometers away confirmed that he was connected to the machine, and Temet headed for his destination.

Machines like the Termit have been used by some Ukrainian brigades since last year, but they have become increasingly popular in recent months.

In the 79th Brigade’s workshops, engineers who previously only built aerial remote-controlled drones are now tasked with upgrading unmanned ground vehicles for use in war zones.

They apply camouflage, solder new platforms and add hardware for additional communications. But even with these improvements, autonomous vehicles are still vulnerable to drone attacks.

One autonomous vehicle operator who goes by the call sign “Lawyer” said that “no matter how well it is hidden, no matter what connection you use and how fast it moves,” the machine can still be detected and destroyed.

During a mission to evacuate a wounded soldier from Pokrovsk, his unmanned vehicle hit a mine, damaging its tracks.

Another unit sent another land drone on a rescue mission, but it too was destroyed. Lawyers still don’t know whether the wounded soldier survived.

On average, only one-third of unmanned ground vehicles reach the city, said Ihor, of Seventh Army’s unmanned systems branch.

While most small robots cannot survive, frontline troops rely on those that can.