Uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs), or ground robot systems as they are known in Ukrainian military parlance, have already proven their worth.

There have been reports of UGVs successfully repelling Russian attacks and even taking enemy soldiers prisoner.

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"They open fire on a battlefield where an infantryman would be afraid to turn up. But a UGV is happy to risk its existence," Maj Afanasiev says.

His battalion has also been using explosive-laden, battery-powered kamikaze UGVs to blow up enemy positions and hideouts.

Unlike aerial drones that buzz overhead, they make no sound to warn the enemy of an impending strike.

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Afghan admits there are limits to the killer robots' autonomy on the battlefield, and says many of them are self-imposed, because of ethics and international humanitarian law.

"Modern UGVs are part-autonomous. They can move on their own, they can observe and detect the enemy. But still, the decision to open fire is made by a human, their operator," Afghan says.

"Robots can misidentify the wrong person or attack a civilian. That's why the final decision must be made by an operator."

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Ukraine's lethal UGVs can be armed with grenade launchers as well as machine guns, and can also be deployed to plant landmines or barbed wire.

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Necessity is a key factor driving innovation in this field. Drones in the air have made it infinitely more dangerous for humans to be present on the battleground, expanding Ukraine's so-called "kill zone" to 20-25km (12-15 miles) from the line of contact.

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The Ukrainian army has been facing severe manpower shortages, and recruiting new soldiers behind fallen ones is proving increasingly more difficult.

Russia has also been developing combat UGVs, such as the Kuryer. According to Russian media reports, it can be equipped with a flame-thrower, a heavy machine gun normally found on tanks, and it can run autonomously for five hours.

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Clashes between Russian and Ukrainian killer robots on the battlefields of Ukraine are a matter of time given their increasing numbers and capabilities, says Yuriy Poritsky, CEO of Ukrainian UGV manufacturer Devdroid which produced hundreds of "strike droids" for the military last year.

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Another Ukrainian manufacturer of UGVs, Tencore, produced more than 2,000 UGVs for the Ukrainian army in 2025.

Its director, Maksym Vasylchenko, expects demand to jump to around 40,000 units in 2026, at least 10-15% of them armed with weapons.