The world\u2019s first fully robotic assault on an enemy position was, of course, captured on video by a drone hovering above.<\/p>\n
President Volodymyr Zelensky recently revealed that the pioneering mission by the Ukrainian army had taken place last year in Kharkiv Oblast. He added that in the last three months Ukraine has conducted 22,000 missions using robotic vehicles. Robots, he stressed, are replacing soldiers on the frontline with Russia. <\/p>\n
Video of the assault has been passed<\/a> to The Spectator by the 3rd Assault Brigade, the unit behind the mission. It shows that a Russian fortified dugout was first attacked by a suicide drone that exploded inside and then a Targan \u2013 \u201ccockroach\u201d in Ukrainian \u2013 remote control vehicle parked outside and detonated its mine.<\/p>\n The Ukrainian military has developed a lightning-fast feedback loop between the battlefield and R&D units. <\/p>\n Last November, I visited the unit behind the robotic assault, the 3rd Assault Brigade at its training and development center \u2013 the Killhouse. <\/p>\n \u270d\ufe0f @benclerkin<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/5yqaWTYvGE<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Spectator \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@TheSpectator) May 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n When another Targan pulled up, the two Russian soldiers inside the bunker held up a surrender note for the drone hovering above to see. They were then shepherded to Ukrainian<\/a> lines by the drone. Not a single shot was fired during the entire mission.<\/p>\n The Targan operator involved in the robotic assault said the point of the operation was to minimize casualties after the infantry hadn\u2019t been able to \u201csuccessfully storm\u201d the position. \u201cWe managed to take that tree line, including all the defensive positions, in literally 15 minutes. This was achieved without a single casualty, without a single shot being fired. The deployment of robotic systems significantly lightens, and in some cases completely relieves, the infantry of their duties.\u201d <\/p>\n Mykola \u201cMakar\u201d Zinkevych, commander of the unmanned strike systems unit, said, \u201cMore than 50 similar operations have already been carried out, and we continue to increase the pace. The time will come \u2013 and we will tell more about them.\u201d<\/p>\n But Oleksandr Sukhoi, an officer in the 1st Unmanned Systems Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, cautioned about overstating the case for unmanned systems. \u201cUGVs can reach positions, but they cannot hold them. Holding ground still requires humans.\u201d He pushed back on the idea that the robotic assault was a turning point in warfare. \u201cIt is an evolution: a gradual shift towards unmanned systems taking over the most dangerous and routine tasks.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\n