Ukraine Just Added One More Trick to Its Ground Robots—and Russian Infantry Won’t Like It

Ukraine’s military intelligence has tested an unusual new battlefield weapon—a ground robot equipped with a flamethrower —expanding the growing range of armed unmanned vehicles Ukrainian forces already use.

Fighters from the Bratstvo unit of the Timur Special Unit tested the unmanned ground vehicle, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate, or HUR, reported on November 4.

HUR has not yet disclosed technical details about the system, including its range, flamethrower type, or intended battlefield role.

Journalist Farid Sharafmal, creator of the YouTube channel Farid Speaks, also took part in the trials. HUR said more details and footage of the tests are expected to appear in an upcoming episode focused on an intelligence officer with the call sign “Photographer.”

The flamethrower-equipped vehicle is the latest example of Ukraine adapting ground robots for direct combat.

Ukrainian forces have already used unmanned ground vehicles armed with grenade launchers to assault Russian positions and enter shelters while keeping infantry away from direct-fire zones.

Other configurations carry heavy machine guns.

In one previously reported operation, soldiers from Ukraine’s 44th Separate Mechanized Brigade used a DevDroid Droid TW-12.7 strike UGV against Russian troops sheltering inside a building.

Operators remotely drove the vehicle toward the position before engaging it with a remotely controlled combat module armed with a 12.7mm M2 Browning heavy machine gun.

According to Ukrainian defense technology company DevDroid, the remotely conducted assault killed 20 Russian troops without requiring Ukrainian soldiers to approach the position themselves.

Earlier, DevDroid demonstrated its Droid TW 7.62 and heavier Droid TW 12.7 during an intensive training scenario involving Italian troops.

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