Ukraine is using an army of experimental robots to turn the tide in the war with Russia.
For months President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been sending robots to do a range of tasks including demolishing bridges, transporting supplies and evacuating wounded troops.
And now they are being used to attack Russian frontline soldiers using powerful explosives and machine guns, the Telegraph reports.
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In March, more than 50 robots were sent to the front lines. In February there were reports of Russian infantrymen being attacked by a combat robot equipped with a machine gun at a Ukrainian bunker outside the Donetsk region city of Avdiivka.
(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It was likely one of four combat robots being rolled out across the front line.
First-person view (FPV) drones are also being loaded up with explosives and controlled from miles away to attack Russian trenches from above.
Drone warfare is seen as the only way Ukraine can overcome Moscow’s so-called meat grinder strategy – a term used to describe the sending of waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery.
It causes a huge number of casualties with British intelligence officials estimating 500,000 Russians have been killed or wounded in the war so far. The overall death toll for Russia is believed to be more than 50,000.
Nataliia Kushnerska, the chief operations officer at Brave 1, the Ukrainian government’s defence innovations platform, told the Telegraph: “Unlike the enemy, Ukraine’s key is its people. Technology, particularly unmanned ground vehicles, allows for minimising human involvement on the battlefield, preserving the lives and health of Ukrainian soldiers.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are apparently the latest technology to be sent in to help Ukraine win the war amid dire manpower shortages.
UGVs can deliver 40kg of explosives under a tank or into a bunker at 15mph, and can also carry loads of up to 600kg to deliver ammunition or evacuate a wounded soldier to safety.
They can also be fitted with night-vision cameras and armour to protect them from small-arms fire. Missions, including assaults, have been carried out with them while their operators are two-and-a-half miles away.
Officials in Kyiv believe they will eventually see Western militaries adopt similar technology in future conflicts.
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