WASHINGTON (April 23, 2026) – Ukraine is considering the use of robots to carry out missions, instead of sending soldiers into high-risk combat zones. Last summer was the first time an enemy position was stormed and prisoners were captured using only ground robots and drones. Since then, missions replacing human soldiers with robotic systems has become common for Ukraine’s Third Separate Assault Brigade. The brigade’s current goal is to replace a third of their militia with drones and robots.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that drones and robots had conducted more than 22,000 missions in the past three months and mentioned that “Lives were saved more than 22,000 times when a robot went into the most dangerous areas instead of a warrior”
For more information about these developments please consider Alexander Downes, professor of political science and international affairs, and co-director of the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at GW. Downes' book Targeting Civilians in War was published by Cornell University Press in 2008 and won the Joseph Lepgold Prize awarded by Georgetown University for the best book in international relations published in that year. Downes has written on a variety of subjects in international security, including civilian victimization, foreign-imposed regime change, military effectiveness, democracy, coercion, alliances, and solutions to civil wars.
To schedule an interview, please contact Nadia Payne at nadia [dot] payne
gwu [dot] edu (nadia[dot]payne[at]gwu[dot]edu) or GW media at gwmediagwu [dot] edu (gwmedia[at]gwu[dot]edu).
-GW-