The Ukrainian military has shown ground robots armed with machine guns attacking Russian positions
The 33rd Separate Assault Regiment has released a video of a combat operation against Russian forces using ground-based robotic systems equipped with large-calibre Browning machine guns.
Artem, the commander of the unit’s unmanned systems battalion, said that the operation had been prepared following the receipt of intelligence regarding Russian positions. According to him, the attack simultaneously utilised ground-based robotic systems fitted with American 12.7 mm machine guns, FPV drones, heavy attack drones of their own manufacture, as well as quadcopters for surveillance and fire control.
Artem said that the Russian military had not anticipated this method of attack. He noted that radio intercepts revealed that Russian troops had reported machine-gun fire to their command without realising that it was being carried out by ground-based robots. He also stated that no artillery was used during the operation.
The battalion commander added that after the attack, one of the Russian soldiers attempted to take cover in a neighbouring building, where, he said, he was struck by a heavy strike drone. He also stated that all the ground-based robotic systems used had returned undamaged after completing their mission, and that the unit was already preparing a new operation involving the wider use of unmanned systems.
On 11 July, the Russian Ministry of Defence also reported that Ukraine had deployed two ground-based robotic systems equipped with machine guns in the Orikhiv sector of the Zaporizhzhia region. The Russian ministry claimed that both systems had been destroyed by drone strikes.
The US Institute for the Study of War had previously reported that in December 2024, Ukraine carried out its first fully robotic combat operation without the involvement of infantry. According to the institute, ground-based unmanned platforms equipped with machine guns and reconnaissance drones were used at that time to attack Russian positions near Lyptsi in the Kharkiv region.
Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the Ukrainian military had, for the first time, captured a position and taken Russian soldiers prisoner using only ground robots and drones. According to the information cited in the source, by March 2026, more than 150 Ukrainian units had been using such systems, and by the end of 2026, Ukraine expects to replace up to 30 per cent of its personnel in the most dangerous sections of the front line with them.
