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Battlefield First! Ukraine Performs All-Robot Multi-Domain Attack Near Kharkiv

Wes O'Donnell
7 min read4 days ago
The THeMIS UGV 5th Gen. By Milrem Robotics — Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

The killer robots have arrived.

Supported by numerous defense tech partners from NATO nations like Estonia, Ukraine has just pulled off a battlefield first near Kharkiv in December — an air and ground attack using all automated systems.

I had expected this to be front-page news, but it appears Trump and Musk have been sucking all of the media oxygen out of the room lately.

But first, some background.

Estonia’s Milrem Robotics is rolling out its THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) at record speed, and by the end of the year, Ukraine will have over 200 of them in the fight against Russia’s increasingly desperate forces.

Let’s face it — Russia’s battlefield tactics could use a serious 21st-century upgrade, and Ukraine is happy to showcase what modern warfare actually looks like.

Since 2022, the Ukrainian military has been using Milrem’s THeMIS platforms for cargo transport, medical evacuations, and mine clearance — tasks that previously involved sending human soldiers into harm’s way.

According to Paul Clayton, Milrem’s Director of Industrial Partnerships, at least 15 of these robotic warriors are already on the ground, proving their worth. But that’s just the…

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Wes O'Donnell
Wes O'Donnell

Written by Wes O'Donnell

US Army & US Air Force Veteran | Global Security Writer | Intel Forecaster | Law Student | TEDx Speaker | Pro Democracy | Pro Human | Hates Authoritarians

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The most dangerous job in the army would be attempting to displace your enemy from a well defended emplacement. Even the best soldiers will experience a three to one or more casualty disadvantage even if they succeed. How much better to sacrifice a…

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>>... shifting drone-operating frequencies to stay ahead of jamming efforts. ...
I would expect that mounting a spool of optical fiber on one of these is less of an issue than doing the same on an unmanned aerial vehicle...?

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Great update. Slava Ukraini!

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