Robot army remakes ground warfare

A Ukrainian army training session with an unmanned ground vehicle in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Battalions of ground robots now conduct thousands of missions in Ukraine every month. — Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

WHILE flying drones have grabbed the world’s attention and rewritten the rules of combat, a quieter revolution is crawling along beneath them on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Battalions of ground robots – tracked and wheeled machines that deliver supplies, haul ammunition, evacuate the woun­ded, lay mines and increasingly hold land – now conduct thousands of missions every month.