In Russia's war against Ukraine, the latest technology has completely changed the nature of military operations. DW visited Ukrainian units in the Kharkiv region and saw how they use robotic platforms and drones.
The area near the Ukrainian-Russian border looks lifeless: fields with unharvested corn, partially destroyed abandoned villages, deserted roads with burned-out cars.
Active combat operations are not noticeable in this part of the Kharkiv region, at first glance everything seems to be immersed in a deep sleep. But if you look up at the sky, you will notice that reconnaissance drones are constantly circling there. The images from them are transmitted to the monitors of the command post of one of the battalions of the 13th brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard "Hartiya". The command post is located a few kilometers from the front line, in the basement of an abandoned house north of Kharkiv.
Commander "Grom": We read the signs from the sky
The commander with the call sign "Grom" is constantly monitoring the monitors. In good visibility, the task of reconnaissance is to detect even the slightest signs of a possible enemy approach. The commander says that in modern conditions, the usual trenches and shelters are of little effectiveness, so "the entire infantry - both Ukrainian and enemy - digs tunnels underground to be inaccessible to attacking drones.
To detect traces of the enemy, continues "Thunder", one must literally "read the signs on the ground from the sky": whether new garbage has appeared on the streets of abandoned villages, whether there is fresh soil near the fences, broken branches near the trees, firewood in the yards.
The operator Alexey points the drone at one of the houses and notices traces near the well: "It looks like traces of an animal, but theoretically someone could have been drawing water. We have to check later," he says.
The next moment, on the orders of his immediate commander, Alexey checks the highway, on which intelligence has spotted a car stopped for several minutes near a forest area. "The enemy often delivers various cargoes to the infantry," Alexey explains to DW. If intelligence finds a hideout, strike drones will be sent there. "The enemy does the same. The one who has better hideout and superiority in drones dominates", says "Thunder".
The most important thing is to preserve the lives of the fighters
Underground hideouts must remain undetectable for as long as possible. That is why the Ukrainian army is increasingly using ground robotic complexes (GRC) to transport ammunition, food, fuel, for mining and evacuation of the wounded. Such platforms can transport hundreds of kilograms, reducing the risk of losses among personnel.
The enemy is actively trying to destroy these machines, says the company commander of the "Kara-Dag" brigade with the call sign "Scrooge". Together with his subordinates, he sends ground robotic systems with various loads to the positions every night. A DW correspondent met him around midnight on the outskirts of a village in the Kupyansk region and saw how the loads were being sent.
Night mission of the robot "Mriya"
First, the robotic platform "Mriya" is being prepared. It must act very quickly, as Russian drones are circling nearby. Quadcopters, supplies and fuel are quickly loaded onto the platform. The NRC must deliver the load within two hours. "Mriya" is controlled by an operator located 40 km from the platform. The robot is monitored from above by a reconnaissance drone pilot from another command post located about 20 km away.
On the way of "Mriya" reconnaissance detects an enemy combat drone and the robot has to stop in place. After it is understood that it is an analog FPV device, whose radio horizon does not allow it to attack, the robot continues on its way. After about an hour, however, it is still attacked and on the monitor in the command post they see that the cargo is burning.
"Scroog" explains that this platform has been damaged before and will most likely be restored by the mechanics again. The other deliveries were successful, so according to "Scroog" the loss of "Mriya" is not critical: "It's just a machine. The most important thing for us is that no one dies".
The Future: Robots and Drones Instead of Infantry
The commander is convinced that the development of the Ukrainian NRC is proceeding faster than that of the enemy. In the company's workshop, he shows a combat robotic platform with an American Browning large-caliber machine gun mounted on it. The robot itself can "hide" and remain in standby mode for a long time, powered by batteries.
"When a robot with a machine gun approaches the enemy within a kilometer and a half of his positions, it is already morally depressing", says the company mechanic Yuri.
"Scrooge" himself is a hereditary military man and is convinced that the future of war lies in autonomous technology. The company commander assumes that in time, only robots and unmanned aerial vehicles will operate on the battlefield, and people will be located tens of kilometers away from them and will control everything remotely. He notes that the operations that journalists observed at night in the Kharkov steppe can now "be directed from anywhere in the world".