Ukraine targets fully robotic frontline supply chain with 25,000 ground drones

Kyiv is planning to contract 25,000 unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in the first half of this year with the aim of having all frontline logistics carried out by robotic systems.

As the saturation of drones on Ukraine’s frontline makes sending much-needed supplies increasingly difficult with such runs having to cross a 10-kilometre-wide “grey zone” to reach soldiers at the front, Ukraine has pushed to ramp up the use of so-called unmanned systems to reduce casualties.

“Our goal is for 100% of frontline logistics to be handled by robotic systems,” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s defence minister said on Saturday.

To achieve that aim, Kyiv plans to acquire 25,000 of these remotely controlled ground robots in the first half of the year – twice as many as were in use last year.

In March, Ukrainian armed forces completed 9,000 missions on the frontline with UGVs – three times more than in November – bringing the total of such missions so far this year to more than…