Following aerial drones, ground robots are emerging as a new pillar of future ground warfare.

The New York Times reported on July 13 (local time) that the Ukrainian military is operating ground robot units composed of tracked and wheeled Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), carrying out thousands of missions every month.

Ground robots have evolved beyond support missions such as transporting supplies and ammunition or evacuating the wounded, now reaching the stage of defending positions and capturing prisoners of war.

As a result, they are being evaluated as evolving into a new force in modern warfare.

The Ukrainian military plans to produce 50,000 ground robots this year, a figure more than double last year's production volume.

The primary reason Ukraine is accelerating the development of ground robots is a shortage of personnel.

To preserve its forces, which are outnumbered by Russia, robots are taking over tasks such as logistics, evacuation, and reconnaissance in dangerous areas, thereby increasing the survival rate of soldiers.

Major Oleksandr, who did not disclose his last name, stated, "We cannot afford to lose personnel," and shared a case where a ground robot was used to rescue a soldier who had lost a leg after stepping on a landmine.

Although the robot stepped on landmines three times while traveling approximately 4 kilometers through enemy-occupied territory, it successfully evacuated the wounded soldier to safety.

The role of ground robots is now expanding into the combat domain.

In December of last year, what was effectively the first "all-out unmanned robot assault" took place, in which ground robots equipped with machine guns, flamethrowers, and explosives attacked Russian positions alongside aerial drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also announced in April that a mission had been successfully carried out using only ground robots and aerial drones to capture Russian positions without exposing a single soldier to direct danger.

There have also been cases where armed robots accepted the surrender of Russian troops and escorted prisoners to Ukrainian positions, or a robot equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun defended a position alone for 45 days.

Ukraine is currently considered to be ahead of not only Russia but also major global militaries in the field of ground robot development.

In particular, combat-ready unmanned systems are evolving rapidly as frontline mechanics and infantrymen, rather than software developers, directly modify and improve robots based on their real-world combat experience.

Captain Oleksandr Kharkovets, who ran an automotive electronics repair shop before the war, developed a robot for recovering bodies—equipped with hooks and a machine gun on a remote-controlled vehicle—after the experience of having to leave behind the bodies of his comrades during the Battle of Bakhmut.

This robot was later actually deployed to recover the bodies of fallen soldiers in an area that even special forces had been unable to approach for a week.

Sergeant Dmytro Ivanov, who leads a ground robot system platoon, also jumped into robot development based on his experience as a combat engineer carrying landmines in his backpack for over 14 kilometers.

He said, "Once we secure enough unmanned equipment, we will be able to perform up to 80% of missions, including transport and logistics, without human involvement."

However, there are also forecasts that ground robots will be difficult to deploy as quickly as aerial drones.

With an average price of about 24,000 dollars, they are roughly twice as expensive as large transport drones, and limitations are also being pointed out, such as lower mobility in rough terrain and the difficulty of making immediate judgments like humans.

(Photo: Provided by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Yonhap News)