A Ukrainian soldier who goes by the call sign Vladyka, 35, places a remote control on his land drone in Kharkiv region. Photo / Siobhan O’Grady, The Washington Post
A Ukrainian soldier who goes by the call sign Vladyka, 35, places a remote control on his land drone in Kharkiv region. Photo / Siobhan O’Grady, The Washington Post
The Russian troops poked the piece of cardboard out of their foxhole, the words “WE WANT TO SURRENDER” scrawled on it in easy view of the Ukrainian drones flying above.
For weeks, the Russians had held firm to this sliver of tree line, despite repeated Ukrainian assaults.
But anew enemy was perched outside their dugout - one they knew they couldn’t beat: a small, wheeled robot packed with 62kg of explosives.
The Russian surrender to a remote-controlled land drone along the northeastern front in June marked the first time Ukraine took a position and prisoners of war with help from such a device, said commanders from the Third Assault Brigade, which carried out the mission.
The Washington Post reconstructed the June operation by reviewing footage provided by the brigade and conducting interviews with the commanders involved in the attack.
The mission, which was carried out by the brigade’s drone crews and ground troops, helped Ukraine retake a strategic position in Kharkiv region while preserving Ukrainian soldiers’ lives, the commanders said.
The operation also showed once more how intensely drones are changing modern warfare on Ukraine’s battlefields - first in the sky and now on the ground.
Once a rarity, land dronesare quickly reshaping the war not only by resupplying and evacuating frontline troops but also by directly participating in assaults.
Although both sides are deploying the drones, Ukraine is designing them to fill some roles that officials say will reduce human casualties and preserve the country’s limited manpower as it faces a much more populous foe.
The drones range in price depending on size but are far more affordable and accurate than artillery. The model used in the June mission cost roughly US$1500 ($2610) to build.
Russia’s full-scale invasion has transformed Ukraine into a testing lab for the future of modern conflict.
There is increasing demand among frontline troops for the robots, which move on wheels or tracks and are controlled by radio signals like aerial drones.
They can range in size from smaller than a microwave to large enough to carry multiple people.
The number of tasks the robots completed across the front line nearly doubled from August to September, according to Ukraine’s top commander.
Ukrainian soldiers hope the robots can take over more basic frontline tasks, sparing troopsfrom some of the more dangerous work of the ground war.
Ukraine has lost an enormous number of troops since 2022 and remains far outnumbered by Russia’s much larger army.
Kyiv has long struggled to recruit more troops - its most valuable and irreplaceable resource.
Some of Ukraine’s land drones are outfitted with remotely operated machine guns that can approach Russian positions, clearing the way for ground forces.
Others, like the ones used in the Third Assault Brigade’s June mission, can deliver explosives.
“For me, the best result is not that we took POWs but that we didn’t lose a single infantryman,” said Mykola, 26, commander of the brigade’s land drone company who oversaw the June operation.
Like other soldiers quoted in this article, he spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his first name or call sign, in keeping with military rules.
“The days in which I’m counting operations in human lives are done for me,” Mykola said. “That’s why I’m commanding robots.”
A soldier from Ukraine’s Third Assault Brigade constructs a land drone in a workshop in Kharkiv region. Photo / Siobhán O’Grady, The Washington Post
Send in the drones
For two weeks after a Russian assault forced Ukrainian troops out of a pair of fortified positions along the northeastern front, they repeatedly tried - and failed - to retake them.
Intercepted communications suggested the Russian soldiers holding the positions were well-trained and planning an attack, commanders said.
They watched as Russian aerial drones dropped them provisions, keeping them supplied.
In early June, the order came down for a new approach. They turned to drones.
“Our task was simple enough,” recalled Vladyka, 35, commander of the land drone crew that executed the successful attack.
“Destroy the base where the enemy was hiding.”
For several hours, his team of three reviewed surveillance footage and intelligence on the position, drafting plans and back-up plans on their tablets.
They knew any land drone would need to travel from their own dugout a few kilometres away through fields, a settlement and a tree line to reach the Russian troops.
And because the devices are not equipped with their own cameras, the soldier controlling the ground robot would have to rely on a live feed from an aerial drone flying overhead.
A neighbouring unit would attack the position first with a bomb-carrying aerial drone. The land drone would then trundle into the dugout and blow itself up - with more to follow if needed.
Ground troops would then finish the fight by advancing several hundred metres to the position - a major win in a war that is often fought inch by inch.
Mykola, 26, is the commander of a land drone company in Ukraine’s Third Assault Brigade, which recently pressured Russian troops into surrendering as POWs without direct infantry contact for the first time in the war. Photo / Siobhan O’Grady, The Washington Post
‘Begin your movements’
Early on a clear June morning, Vladyka’s team prepared their first round of drones - one unarmed aerial device and a land drone they loaded with three anti-tank mines - and set up a screen on the wall to broadcast their journeys towards the Russian troops.
As the nearby unit flew a small armed drone straight into the barricade shielding the position, causing a small explosion, Mykola, from his command post nearby, sent a message to Vladyka’s crew: “Begin your movements”.
The land drone headed towards the Russian position. Then, just as planned, it toppled into the dugout, causing a massive explosion. The Ukrainians waited anxiously for any signs of Russian movement on their screens. They saw nothing.
“We were not in a rush. Our task was not to do it fast but to do it right,” Mykola recalled.
They prepared a second land drone, also loaded with explosives, and sent it towards the now-damaged position.
Once again, a bomb-laden aerial drone struck the barricade at the dugout’s entrance. The land drone pulled up outside, a few feet from the entrance.
“This is when it gets interesting,” Vladyka said.
As the reconnaissance drone hovered overhead and the land drone waited to explode, a Russian soldier poked his head out of the dugout holding the handmade surrendersign.
The flying drone descended towards the soldier to signal that it understood the message, then tilted on its axis to show him which way to walk.
From inside his dugout on the other side of the front line, Mykola watched the live feed, astonished.
He beamed as he reached for his phone to record what he saw unfolding on the screen, even as he feared it might be a trap.
The two Russian soldiers emerged from the foxhole, unarmed and not even wearing flak jackets. Each clutched one side of the cardboard sign.
The Russians followed the aerial drone down a rural lane until they reached waiting Ukrainian troops, who ordered them to the ground and took them into custody.
Over before it began
Nearby, Ukrainian junior sergeant Phil, 25, was preparing for a fight.
He knew that the land drones were targeting the Russian position and that he would be among those to advance on the position after the initial stage of the operation.
With the news of the Russian soldiers’ surrender, he realised the land drones had just done his job for him.
“At first, to be honest, we could hardly believe it; we thought we were being played,” he said.
Then he was told: “‘You guys are not going anywhere; the task is over before it even started’.”
“We didn’t even have to go to the front and take any risks,” he said.
By late morning, the crew’s only task left was deciding what to do with the remaining land drone, still packed with explosives and parked outside the dugout, patiently waiting to detonate.
If it retreated, it could make an easy target for Russian aerial drones, which could try to strike it just as it approached Ukrainian troops.
Instead, Vladyka’s crew drove the first land drone to have forced Russian troops to surrender into an empty field and detonated it.
Its job was done.
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