The cornfields near the border with Russia stand nearly a meter tall, yet remain unharvested. Towns are deserted and silent. Burned-out cars line the roadsides. While there is no active fighting visible, the landscape in the Kharkiv region carries an unsettling, almost ghostly quality, reflecting the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Imagery captured by reconnaissance drones and fixed cameras continuously streams to monitors at a Ukrainian command post. There, the “Chartija” brigade of the National Guard maintains surveillance of the area. The post is located in the basement of an abandoned building, several kilometers from the front lines, north of Kharkiv.
Reading the Signs from the Sky
The battalion commander, known only as “Donner,” remains focused on the screens. With clear skies, vigilance is paramount.
“If the enemy manages to get close to our positions, it means we have failed somewhere,” he told DW.
In this war, he explained, traditional trenches and shelters no longer provide sufficient protection. Both Ukrainian and Russian infantry are concealing themselves in underground tunnels, beyond the reach of attack drones.
Detecting the enemy’s presence, in practice, means learning to “read the signs left on the ground from the sky,” “Donner” explained. This could be recent debris in the streets of an abandoned village, disturbed earth in a garden, or a small pile of firewood in a yard – minimal details that betray movement.
Pilot Oleksij directed a drone toward one of the houses and detected something suspicious near a well.
“They look like animal tracks, but it could also be someone going to get water. We’ll have to check it later,” he commented.
He then reviewed the nearby road. Earlier, drones had observed a civilian vehicle stopping for a few minutes near a small group of trees.
“The enemy continuously supplies its infantry with various provisions,” Oleksij explained. When the brigade detects a Russian shelter, they dispatch combat drones.
“Russia is doing exactly the same,” added “Donner.” “Whoever has the best hiding places and control of the sky with drones has the advantage.”
Supplies Delivered by Ground Robots
Underground shelters must remain concealed for as long as possible. The Ukrainian military is increasingly relying on unmanned ground vehicles to deliver supplies, military equipment, conduct demining operations, or evacuate the wounded, rather than conventional vehicles.
The enemy, explained another brigade commander known as “Scrooge,” actively attempts to destroy these robots. Each night, his unit sends several autonomous platforms loaded with supplies toward Ukrainian positions.
The DW reporter found him at midnight in the steppe, on the outskirts of a town on the Kupiansk front, also in the Kharkiv region.
There, soldiers quickly loaded quadcopters, fuel, provisions, and combat equipment onto various robotic platforms. The operation had to be swift: enemy drones had been detected patrolling the sky just five kilometers away.
A Dream Interrupted
The first robot to depart was named “Dream.” According to the plan, it should deliver its cargo in about two hours.
A pilot controlled it from 40 kilometers away. Midway, the robot was forced to stop: an enemy combat drone appeared. Roughly an hour later, the attack came. At the control post, the cargo was seen to be burning.
The other shipments of the night reached their destinations, so the loss was not critical.
“After all, it’s just a machine,” he said. “The important thing is that no one was killed.”
Robots and Drones Replacing Soldiers
The commander is convinced that Ukraine is developing these ground robots faster than its adversary. In his unit’s workshop, he showed the reporter a combat platform ready for deployment. It is equipped with a large-caliber American Browning machine gun, capable, he explained, of destroying both enemy troops and military equipment.
The platform can remain in standby mode for extended periods thanks to its batteries.
“If a robot armed with a machine gun can fire at the enemy from a distance of one and a half kilometers, that puts enormous psychological pressure on those on the other side,” explained Jurij, a mechanic with the unit.
“Scrooge,” who comes from a military family and is a professional soldier, is convinced that the future of combat is being redefined.
“It’s only a matter of time before there is no infantry on the battlefield, only technology: robots and drones,” he stated. “Soldiers will be sitting a hundred kilometers away, operating them.”
(md/cp)
