Die Ukraine ruft 25.000 Roboter als „Kavallerie“ an vorderster Front auf

***The Telegraph reports:***

The Ardal ground robot had a specific mission: cross open ground, reach the Novoselivka village bridge in Donetsk, and lay an anti-tank mine before Russian forces could use it.

It was a basic operation for [Ukraine](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ukraine)’s elite K-2 Brigade, sitting four miles away.

But when they saw three Russian soldiers on their screen, they did not hesitate to change the objective, detonating the mine and taking the enemy – and the [robot](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/robots) – with it.

The loss of hardware was not a difficult call. Ukraine is on course to make 25,000 [Unmanned Ground Vehicles](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/06/12/ukraine-russia-war-robot-rescues-soldier-from-battlefield/) (UGVs) in the first half of 2026 alone.

Versatile enough to rescue people, shoot enemy troops and lay mines, they are, Ukrainian commanders say, the “new cavalry” – doing in minutes what once cost soldiers their lives.

“We have thousands of UGVs in total,” Major Oleksandr Afanasiev, UGV Battalion Commander of the K-2 Brigade, told The Telegraph. “The main reason we use UGVs is to save soldiers’ lives.”

The K-2 Brigade is Ukraine’s – and probably the world’s – first ever military battalion dedicated entirely to the [running and deployment of UGVs](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/22/ukraine-robot-army-drones-future-warfare-russia/) across the front line.

Its UGVs have made headlines in recent months, extracting wounded soldiers no human crew could safely reach, shielding civilians under fire, and holding front-line positions against Russian advances – sometimes alone, for days.

This week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that a record 10,281 resupply and evacuation missions were conducted by UGVs in April, an average of 343 every day.

In November, that number was just 2,900.

It is an unprecedented spike that battlefield experts say will change the way modern warfare is fought.

**Read more:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/08/ukraine-calls-in-25000-robots-front-line-cavalry/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_reddit_25000-robots-front-line-cavalry/&accesscontrol=facebookchannel_open](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/08/ukraine-calls-in-25000-robots-front-line-cavalry/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_reddit_25000-robots-front-line-cavalry/&accesscontrol=facebookchannel_open)