Two soldiers jump out of the tree line, carrying a wounded colleague and load him into a tiny box-shaped vehicle.
They barely have time to get clear as an artillery blast engulfs the area 20 meters away. But the vehicle keeps trundling forward, occasionally taking cover under foliage, even as hostile fire detonates all around it. According to First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who posted the video, the wounded man made it to the medics, who were able to save his life.
This evacuation on the Pokrovsk front, reported by Fedorov on 15 October, would not have been possible without the Zmiy, an unmanned ground vehicle used for logistics and demining, which carried the wounded soldier out of the fire zone, while taking multiple hits from 152 mm shells, a mine explosion, an FPV drone and small arms fire.
In the drone-choked battlefields of Ukraine, where medevac is difficult, the outnumbered defenders are relying increasingly on remote-controlled and robotic ground vehicles like the Zmiy to clear hazards, deliver supplies, save friendly lives, and take enemy ones.
According to the drone’s manufacturer, Ukrainian company Rovertech, the intense fire caused a 1.5-hour disruption in communication with the UGV — connection was ultimately restored and allowed the crew to get the wounded soldier to the medics in the rear.
“The soldier is alive and is currently undergoing rehabilitation,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram. “Technology is an advantage on the battlefield, saving the lives of heroic soldiers.”
UGVs: force multipliers, utility vehicles, and more
The Zmiy (Snake) Logistic vehicle, is essentially a box on wheels that goes 10 kilometers per hour, to a range of 20 kilometers, and is armored enough to withstand both mines and FPV drones, according to Rovertech. The wheels are designed to allow the vehicle to overcome difficult or swampy terrain.
The machine can carry up to 500 kilograms, making it suitable for delivering supplies forward, or getting the wounded to the rear. The company has other variations on the design specialized for mine-clearing operations.
The rescue on 15 October is not the first time that a Zmiy rescued a wounded serviceman. An 8 August report from the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade showed another of a medical evacuation, albeit with fewer explosions to complicate it. Similar rescues with the use of other UGVs have taken place multiple times throughout 2025.
Ukraine is working to integrate more UGVs into its outnumbered ground troops as both a utility and a force multiplier. Remote-guided and robotic vehicles can get around the multi-kilometer kill zone around the front line, without putting lives at risk from UAVs and drone-guided artillery.
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These ground vehicles can also fight and, in a historical first, even aided in the capture of enemy prisoners. The 3rd Assault Brigade used Targan UGVs to move on Russian forces' dugout after striking it from the air in July. Upon seeing the Targans, the Russians wrote a surrender message on a piece of cardboard and were guided to Ukrainian positions.
Types of UGVs in service with the Ukrainian military
- Combat: Armed platforms designed to provide cover fire or attack enemy positions, such as the Lut NRC or the THeMIS platform using the Burya combat module.
- UAV carrier: A vehicle designed to carry and launch multiple UAV units without putting human operators at risk. Such 'motherships' also exist in waterborne and airborne varieties.
- Logistics: Small semi-autonomous vehicles for transporting cargo such as ammunition, fuel, provisions, to the front line or between units.
- Evacuation: Robotic stretchers on wheels or tracks to move soldiers away from the frontmost parts of the line, or minefields. Logistics vehicles are sometimes repurposed for this function.
- Engineer: Equipped with tools for demining or laying anti-personnel mines, such as the Gnome Miner and the Zmiy 1.2
- Reconnaissance: Small, maneuverable craft equipped with cameras and sensors that work in tandem with UAVs to scope out the front and track enemy movements.
