Ukrainian bomber drones have air-dropped kamikaze ground robots more than 10 kilometres behind Russian lines in a new battlefield operation that Kyiv says killed or wounded as many as 3,000 troops.
The deployment was carried out by Ukraine’s Third Army Corps during Operation Vivaldi, with unmanned ground vehicles used to strike Russian positions in the Donetsk region.
Footage recorded by cameras on the robots showed one vehicle being dropped into the Russian rear before attacking a target. Ukrainian forces described the operation as the first of its kind.
“For the first time in the world, during [Ukraine’s] Operation Vivaldi, the occupiers were attacked by ‘Gryphons’,” said Makar, commander of the NSI-13 ground robotic systems unit of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, part of the 3rd Army Corps.
“Heavy bomber drones – the Gryphons – dropped kamikaze ground robots more than 10km deep into enemy rear areas,” he said.
“Robot cameras captured the technological breakthrough — where the enemy least expected it.”
Makar said the deep-strike tactic had been developed from scratch by soldiers in the unit. He added that the use of robotic systems would help preserve the lives of Ukrainian infantry while destroying Russian manpower and equipment.
Ukraine has increasingly used domestically produced drones and other unmanned systems alongside missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia. The country’s drone technology has attracted interest from governments and defence manufacturers around the world.
The latest operation comes as fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometre front has slowed, with drones and ground robots making troop movements more dangerous. Russia and Ukraine have instead continued an escalating exchange of long-range aerial attacks.
Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight and into Friday killed five people and wounded 11, according to the report, while Moscow said one person had been killed and 21 wounded in Ukrainian attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said eight regions had come under attack. Russian forces also maintained strikes on Kyiv, hitting an office block where four people were killed and an apartment building where a 14-year-old boy died and at least seven residents were injured, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had struck a missile-engine depot near Kyiv. Zelensky said Ukraine had hit two Russian refineries, while unconfirmed Russian media reports said drones had also targeted a military electronics plant and a synthetic rubber producer.
