Ukraine’s forces have touted a world first by deploying ground robots behind Russian lines in its "Operation Vivaldi" counteroffensive. Ukraine’s Third Army Corps said on Sunday that attack ground robots were deployed from heavy bomber drones deep into the Russian rear, where they acted as payloads for larger aerial drones. Unmanned ground vehicles are increasingly playing a larger role in Ukraine's assault tactics, taking on roles once assigned to infantry.
"Our heavy bomber drones deliver suicide ground drones more than 10 kilometers into the enemy's rear." Despite Biletskyi's claims of a world first, Ukrainian outlet RBC Ukraine reported that air delivery of ground robots is not entirely new for Ukrainian forces, "but it is the first time it has been used for kamikaze unmanned ground robotic systems over such a distance." Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment. After weeks of stealthy gains in the Donetsk oblast in eastern Ukraine, Biletskyi revealed last week details of Operation Vivaldi, which has been ongoing over the summer. He said Ukraine’s forces had stopped the Russian salient north of Lyman in Donetsk, preventing Russian forces from encircling the "Fortress Belt" of well-defended cities key to Kyiv’s defense of the Donbas region.
On Sunday, Biletskyi gave further details, this time on the second phase of the operation, saying that three settlements northwest of Lyman, 19 square miles, had been liberated and 800 Russian troops eliminated. Biletskyi said his forces had prepared for ground operations by landing a wave of drones and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) over six miles behind the frontline to harass the Russian tactical rear and help Kyiv’s combined arms operations. The robot deployment was part of a plan to disrupt Russian defenses before Ukrainian troops advanced.
Biletskyi added that his troops are grinding down three Russian armies at once — the 20th, 25th, and 1st Tank. Artillery and unmanned systems hit Russian command posts, communication centers, logistics, crossings and reserves while Ukraine’s air defense and electronic warfare created a protective dome over the area, according to the Third Army Corps. A map by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) shows some of the Ukrainian Third Corps' reported gains, including the recapture of Shandryholove and Derylove and establishing control over Drobysheve in the Lyman sector for a total liberation of 48 square miles since Operation Vivaldi started.
Military analyst Giorgi Revishvili, behind the Substack Russia Analyzed, told Newsweek last week that Operation Vivaldi showed that, with effective planning and proper execution, maneuver warfare was still possible even on a battlefield with drones and persistent surveillance. However, he said that even successful Ukrainian local counteroffensives, such as the operation around Lyman, will not alter Putin's maximalist demands in the coming months as the Kremlin looks convinced that time is on Russia's side. Another military analyst, retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan, wrote on his Futura Doctrina Substack that whether Operation Vivaldi’s next movement expands on current operations, or just consolidates what has already been taken, will be one of the more interesting battlefield questions for the coming months.
"We may be approaching, or in the midst of, a shift to a new phase of this war," Ryan wrote. Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
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