The Ukrainian side actively uses drones in defense, but in one of the battles waged by the Third Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a “secret weapon” was used to repel attacks - a DevDroid TW 12.7 ground robot, no bigger than a lawnmower, armed with an M2 Browning machine gun, The Telegraph reports.
This drone is controlled by a soldier at a distance of 25 kilometers. It can traverse rough terrain at speeds of up to 7 km/h using an automatic guidance system with artificial intelligence or remote control.
Mykola Zinkevich, commander of the NC-13 unit of the Third Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which uses the DevDroid TW 12.7, said that the robot had repelled attacks for 45 days without being hit. According to him, the Russian side was unable to determine whether the positions were occupied by a ground drone, and not by soldiers. At the same time, the DevDroid TW 12.7 allows for the protection of positions that usually require three to six soldiers, writes the Telegraph.
„Such vehicles are something that will change the course of combat operations. "Wherever there is an opportunity to replace a live soldier with an unmanned ground vehicle, it should be done," Zinkevich said.
During its deployment at undisclosed locations, the DevDroid TW 12.7 left its post every two days for maintenance and resupply by the crew, which was located approximately 4 km from the line of contact. Maintenance included recharging the battery, and redeployment took approximately four hours.
Zinkevich noted that NC-13, founded in September 2025, has focused this year on "maximum engagement" and the wider use of drones in both defensive and offensive operations.
He said that other versions of the drones have recently been approved for use on the front line, including two vehicles equipped with grenade launchers. "The demand for these systems is high. "Robots don't bleed," the commander of NC-13 emphasized.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, previously stated that Ukraine intends to deliver 15,000 ground robots for various purposes to the troops by the end of 2025.
The Ukrainian army is experiencing a personnel shortage, as Western publications have repeatedly noted. The Financial Times reported in November that the Ukrainian authorities are in no hurry to solve this problem by recruiting more people, but instead are seeking to increase the number of volunteers and rely more on elite drone units.
The Russian army is also using ground robots in combat zones. For example, in the summer of 2025, the ground drone "Krot-1" was used to destroy firing positions of Ukrainian troops near Dilyivka in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The ground drones “Depesha“ and “Buggy“, which can overcome defensive barriers, and “Hedgehog“, which can destroy armored vehicles, have also been developed. The ground robotic system (GRS) “Courier“ has also been developed - a multi-purpose, remotely controlled, tracked platform capable of performing transport, reconnaissance and combat tasks.