Newsweek on Sept. 21 cited Ukrainian military statements saying Ukraine
airdropped suicide ground robots into Russian rear areas in northern Donetsk.
Ukraine’s Third Corps said on Telegram on Sept. 20 it executed a flanking
maneuver and carried out what it called the world’s first ground-robot
deployment, claiming the robots — flown by heavy strike UAVs more than 10 km
into enemy rear — “blinded” Russian drones via air-defence and
electronic-warfare measures. Third Corps commander Brig. Gen. Andriy Biletsky
said his unit was the first to airdrop the systems. The Russian Defense Ministry
had no immediate comment; Newsweek said it had contacted the ministry.