Ukrainian soldiers are putting RPGs on robots for fights in the kill zone, a manufacturer says

Ukrainian forces have used RPGs to fight Russia's invasion.

Now, they're starting to put them on robots to attack.

Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Ukrainian troops are shifting another infantry weapon from soldiers to robots.

RPGs are finding a new role as combat evolves and troops lean on emerging tech to mitigate risk.

The change reflects how drones and robots are reshaping ground warfare.

Ukrainian soldiers conducting operations in the kill zone have been putting anti-tank RPGs on ground robots, a robotic systems manufacturer told Business Insider, explaining that the battlefield has become too dangerous for troops to use the weapons the way they did earlier in the war.

Rocket-propelled grenades are often used by infantry to defeat armored vehicles and weaken fortified positions, but the battlefield has changed, forcing new innovations.

In the kill zone, "nobody knew how to use" an RPG "while staying safe himself," Oleg Fedoryshyn, the R&D director of Ukrainian robot maker DevDroid, told Business Insider.

The kill zone along Ukraine's front is a perilous area, as deep as 50 kilometers in some areas, where drones are so heavily concentrated alongside other weaponry that any movement represents a significant risk.

For many soldiers, simply getting within RPG range can be extremely difficult.

The decision to move RPGs onto robots reflects a broader shift in the war.

Early in Russia's full-scale invasion, RPGs were a common infantry weapon, used against Russian tanks and vehicles and to support infantry during fights in towns and cities.

But cheap drones , in both surveillance and strike roles, have transformed ground combat, reducing the use of armored vehicles and changing infantry engagements.

Ukraine's robot fleet can fire a growing array of weapons.