Ukrainian forces are repurposing assault robots for logistics missions because of supply bot shortages

Ukrainian forces are repurposing assault robots for logistics missions.

Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Ukrainian forces are taking ground robots designed for assaults and repurposing them for logistics.

Commanders told Business Insider that their units are facing a shortage of ground robots.

Officials want robots to eventually handle 100% of battlefield logistics, rather than humans.

Ukrainian forces are taking some of the ground robots designed for assault missions and repurposing them for logistics as they face shortages of these critical machines, unit commanders told Business Insider.

Front-line logistics have become increasingly difficult in Ukraine as drones constantly monitor the battlefield.

Supply runs can be deadly for soldiers, so a growing number are being handled by uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs).

The most common missions for ground robots right now are logistics, said the commander of a UGV unit in the Lava Regiment of Ukraine's 2nd "Khartia" Corps, who requested to be identified by his call sign Mathematician for security reasons.

Mathematician said finding enough robots for these missions is the "biggest problem." His repurposes robots armed with machine guns — typically sent on assault missions — for logistics to make up for the deficit, but that comes at a different operational cost.

"We cannot be doing some fire support missions because we don't have enough UGVs," he said.

Dozor, the commander of a UGV regiment in the Svoboda Battalion of Ukraine's Rubizh Brigade, agreed with the assessment that units are facing a shortage of available ground robots.

He requested to be identified by his call sign for security reasons.

Ground robots have become a priority investment for Ukraine to keep soldiers out of harm's way.

Dmytro Smolienko/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images Dozor said all logistics and casualty evacuation in the kill zone — an area surrounding the front lines that's heavily saturated with drones — are being carried out by ground robots.