By Vitalii Hnidyi
KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) - The boxy, machine gun-equipped vehicle lumbered across the snow-covered battlefield, with no crew aboard and marking what its remote Ukrainian operators described as a major milestone as Russian artillery fire rained around it.
Sparing soldiers for the infantry assault that came later, the unmanned device was operated at a distance by Ukraine's Khartiia Brigade in the latest advance in a conflict that has been defined by a technology race on both sides.
Khartiia released footage of last month's attack in the northeastern Kharkiv region, which combined assault and mine- laying and mine-clearing vehicles guided by drones hovering above. The unit said it was the first documented machine-only ground assault in Ukraine's war with Russia.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the claim.
The operation paved the way for a successful infantry advance, the brigade said.
"Our task is to maximally transfer reconnaissance, clearing operations and assaults... to machines that we can afford to lose," said unit spokesperson Volodymyr Dehtiarov.
Units like Khartiia are embracing innovation, seeking to save lives as Russia's full-scale invasion nears its three-year mark.
Ukrainian authorities say some 43,000 soldiers have been killed in the fighting since February 2022, but some Western officials have estimated the number may be higher.
The proliferation of cheap attack drones has made the artillery-heavy war even deadlier, soldiers have said.
Standing inside a humble storage structure at a Khartiia base, a 21-year-old platoon commander with the call sign "Happy" pointed to shelves of spare parts for their vehicles - including "kamikaze" drones fixed with anti-personnel mines used in last month's attack.
"They get as close to their (Russian) dugouts as possible... and then explode," Happy told Reuters.
Ground vehicle crews are typically based at least 2 km away to avoid attacks by enemy drones, added 28-year-old pilot "Khort".
Other Ukrainian military units are using similar technology, such as remote-controlled stretchers, to try to gain a battlefield edge over a larger and better-equipped enemy.
STEPS AHEAD
Domestic production of ground-based remote technology is expanding in Ukraine, including through grassroots companies boosted by government development funds.
In the skies above, Ukraine is also using dozens of domestically made AI-augmented systems for drones to reach battlefield targets, a senior official said in October.
Russia's military is also quickly adapting, said Khartiia spokesman Dehtiarov, meaning Ukrainian units like his have to innovate continually both on and off the battlefield.
"Any advantage ... is eaten up after a few weeks - a few months at most - when the enemy begins to understand, analyse, apply and scale the same technologies."