Mechanical Medics Transform Ukraine's Frontline

2025-09-17 12:01:30

(MENAFN- Asia Times) In a Soviet-era warehouse near the Kharkiv front, Eugene, a company commander in the 92nd Assault Brigade, oversees preparations for a night mission. There is a debate over whether to send an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to rescue a wounded Ukrainian soldier waiting for evacuation.

“We're crossing our fingers it will happen soon,” he says, as he explains that injured soldiers sometimes remain at the front for weeks as they wait to be recovered.“Many are so badly hurt they're unconscious most of the time.”

The average wait for an evacuation is a week, with some taking as long as a month. Wounded soldiers have died waiting, despite being supplied with intravenous fluids and pain relief, he says.

Evacuations are dangerous, and commanders are constantly weighing the risks. In one case, the driver of an M113 armored vehicle sent to rescue a casualty was killed when it was hit by a drone. Six more soldiers were then injured in subsequent missions to rescue the same soldier.

Ukraine's forces are increasingly turning to technology, using unmanned ground vehicles to bring casualties back to safety and to medical help. Not for the first time, the Ukrainian battlefield is proving a testbed for technology likely to characterize future wars.

“We never send people closer than five kilometers to the front if a robot can do the job,” Eugene says.“We navigate at night using landmarks like trees, towers, and roads. It's like orienteering.”

It's decided that today's evacuation mission cannot go ahead, and the team shifts focus to other tasks. They include a logistics run to resupply the frontline and a mission to recover a UGV that has shut down near the front, jobs that previously would have put service personnel at risk.

Engineers from the unit have adapted one of its TERMIT ground robots, now known as“Mr. Hook,” to recover marooned UGVs.

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