A Ukrainian Gun-'Bot Just Fought A Russian Armored Vehicle For First Time—And Won

The unmanned ground vehicle and the MT-LB ran into each by accident

A Ukrainian UGV during testing

Both sides in Russia’s 45-month wider war on Ukraine are deploying more and more ground robots for surveillance, supply, engineering, casualty evacuation and direct combat missions.

But especially Ukraine, which is struggling to mobilize enough troops—and is highly incentivized to replace people with robots wherever possible. “Fighting against a much bigger power, Ukraine throughout the war has needed to leverage technology to be able to fight back and take the fight to Russia,” Ukrainian-American war correspondent David Kirichenko explained.

One gun-armed unmanned ground vehicle belonging to the Ukrainian 5th Assault Brigade, fighting north of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, inadvertently advanced UGV tactics in an accidental encounter with an up-armored Russian MT-LB infantry transport. (See video below.)

The UGV, equipped with thermal night vision and armed with a remotely operated M2 .50-caliber machine gun, was reportedly on a combat trial—crawling around the battlefield at nighttime for testing purposes—when an MT-LB rolled toward it on the same road.

Connected via radio, the UGV crew opened fire, peppering the tracked MT-LB with rounds until the Russian vehicle passed by—and escaped in the opposite direction. With its 20-miles-per-hour off-road speed, an MT-LB should be faster than any UGV.