Ukraine has become a world leader in the production and effective use of ground robotic complexes on the battlefield. It has achieved unprecedented success in this area. The leading American business magazine Forbes writes about this in an article with the telling title “Rise of the robots: Russian soldiers surrender to Ukrainian machines”. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2026/01/27/rise-of-the-robots-russian-soldiers-surrender-to-ukrainian-machine/ The article begins with a stunning episode of Russian soldiers surrendering to a Ukrainian ground drone armed with a machine gun. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UpxGr32hMmM

In the Ukrainian army, robots are already indispensable both for replenishing supplies on the front line and for evacuating the wounded. Recently, they have been increasingly used in both offensive and defensive combat operations. Now they are increasingly visible and effective directly on the battlefield. The Ukrainian military is also successfully using a combination of drones and combat robotic vehicles.

The production of ground robotic complexes for various purposes in Ukraine has rapidly scaled up. From several hundred in 2024, to thousands in 2025, and this year it is planned to send more than 20,000 ground robotic complexes to the troops. At least 200 different models from about 40 Ukrainian manufacturers are used. At the same time, if at first these were imported machines, then by the end of 2025 99% were made in Ukraine.

The rapid progress of the industry is primarily due to effective and close cooperation between manufacturers and the military on the front line. Engineers create machines that exactly meet the requirements of the unit they work with, and feedback received during combat operations is taken into account during improvement, which usually lasts several weeks. Robots are relatively easy to assemble from readily available components and are relatively cheap compared to armored vehicles.

Ukraine’s success in the production and use of ground combat vehicles is all the more astonishing when you consider that richer and more technically advanced countries cannot boast of anything like this. For example, the US military has much larger budgets, a more powerful technological base, and they began working on the creation of military robotic vehicles back in 1985. But the combat robotic complexes they developed were never used. In 2019, the Americans launched a new program to create combat robotic vehicles, but in 2025 they curtailed it, probably due to high costs and unobvious results.

In fact, decades of research and development have led to nothing! It’s completely different in Ukraine – a short process and an obvious result. In the fall of 2024, the first video of a Ukrainian robotic combat vehicle in action appeared, and since then, there has been more and more evidence of their successful use.

Some commentators say that robots will never replace the infantryman. But still, their role on the battlefield is becoming increasingly important. Ukrainian robotic combat vehicles not only attack and hold the defense, but also affect the morale of the enemy. When your side suffers losses, and your opponent fights remotely and does not shed blood, the fight can seem futile. Especially when there is the possibility of safe and easy surrender.

Clashes between robotic combat vehicles and aerial drones are just beginning, and it is impossible to predict how this type of war will evolve. How robot-to-robot combat technologies develop will likely become a major factor in shaping future wars, Forbes suggests.

Indeed, war is evolving rapidly. But it is now obvious that Ukrainian ground robotic systems do not have a worthy counterpart on the battlefield.