Russian soldiers surrendered to Ukrainian assault using only unmanned robots, says Zelensky

Volodymyr Zelensky was in Germany on Tuesday to agree a major drone deal with Germany
Ukrainian forces retook occupied territory in an unprecedented assault using only unmanned machines , Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, as he praised the country’s era-defining advances in frontline technology.

The president revealed in an address that drones have carried out more than 22,000 missions on the frontlines in three months - a major shift on the modern battlefield that he cast as key to protecting human life.

“For the first time in the history of this war, an enemy position was taken exclusively by unmanned platforms – ground systems and drones .

The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side,” the president said, referencing a groundbreaking manoeuvre in Kharkiv oblast last year.

Ukraine ’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade deployed first-person view (FPV) drones and kamikaze ground platforms to attack fortified positions along the frontline, the brigade said in a statement.

They claimed to have taken an undefined number of Russian forces prisoner without losing any men.

The brigade said the Russians emerged from the destroyed fortifications to surrender “to avoid being blown up” as a robot closed in on their position.

Zelensky recounted the extraordinary tale on Defence Industry Worker Day, an annual holiday established in 2023.

Ukraine has seen a seismic shift in its defence capability since the full-scale invasion in 2022, developing new tactics and machines to gain an edge on the battlefield.

As Ukraine now looks to export some of that technology, the president on Tuesday announced defence cooperation plans with Germany , including a deal on drone production that Zelensky said could become one of the largest of its kind in Europe.

“No defence industry has become more innovative than Ukraine's,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a news conference in Berlin.

“Through our support, we are strengthening both German and European defence capabilities and our industrial base.”
Germany's defence ministry said the project would create a joint venture to supply thousands of drones to the Ukrainian military.

Berlin also agreed to invest several hundred million euros to finance so-called deep strike capabilities.

Zelensky said teams from both countries were still working on the scope and details of the drone agreement, which builds on existing cooperation between German and Ukrainian companies.

“Germany is a major partner of ours, so I am confident that we will have one of the largest - indeed the largest - agreements of this kind at least in Europe,” he said.

Germany is Europe's largest provider of military aid to Kyiv.

It has delivered about 55 billion euros ($64 billion) since Russia 's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and has set aside 11.5 billion euros in the current budget.

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