Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
- Ukrainian soldiers are buying uncrewed ground vehicles from a digital marketplace in record numbers.
- They purchased more than 640 units in July, a 680% increase over 2025’s monthly average.
- It reflects the surging popularity of the robots as Kyiv aims to replace troops with machines.
Ukrainian troops are rushing to a digital weapons marketplace to buy record numbers of ground robots, reflecting the surging popularity of these combat machines on the battlefield.
Brave1, the Ukrainian state-backed innovation platform, said on Monday that the military has ordered more than 3,000 ground robots from its digital marketplace since it launched last year, including over 640 units in July alone.
That latter figure represents a 680% increase over 2025’s monthly average, Brave1 said in a statement.
Yuliia Myrna, product manager for the Brave1 Market digital site, said in remarks shared with Business Insider that ground robots and interceptor drones “are among the fastest-growing categories we are seeing in 2026.”
Ukraine launched the Brave1 Market in April 2025, granting soldiers access to an Amazon-style website to buy military technology, such as drones, robots, and electronic warfare systems, from the defense industry, streamlining the procurement process.
In October 2025, uncrewed ground vehicles became eligible for purchase with “ePoints,” which Ukrainian troops collect for verified kills of Russian soldiers or military hardware, and the completion of other battlefield tasks.
Genya SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images
Various drone types, including first-person-view (FPV) quadcopters, interceptors, and heavy bombers, are among the most popular items on the Brave1 Market by quantity.
While ground robots can cost tens of thousands of dollars — typically making them far more expensive than these other drones — they serve in drastically different roles and have a longer operational lifecycle.
Myrna said Ukraine is “deliberately accelerating” the integration of ground robots into combat operations, particularly for logistics and casualty evacuation.
“Military units now earn ePoints for successfully completing these missions with robotic systems, creating an incentive to replace personnel in high-risk tasks wherever possible,” she said.
“This creates a powerful development cycle,” Myrna added, explaining that “more battlefield use generates more operational feedback for manufacturers, which leads to faster product improvements and ultimately helps us move people away from missions that can be performed by machines.”
Only a few Ukrainian companies produced ground robots at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Today, there are roughly 280 firms that make hundreds of different products, Andrii Hrytseniuk, Brave1’s CEO, told Business Insider.
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The growing popularity of uncrewed ground vehicles on the Brave1 Market reflects Ukraine’s broader push to replace soldiers with robots and drones in dangerous missions, particularly front-line supply runs.
Ukrainian officials have said they want robots to handle 100% of battlefield logistics, missions that have become particularly deadly as the “kill zone” — the drone-saturated area that surrounds the front line — continues to expand.
Ukrainian commanders told Business Insider that the robots allow their units to perform critical tasks while keeping troops out of harm’s way.
Grek, a UGV company commander with the 21st Unmanned Systems “Kraken” Regiment, who asked to only be identified by his call sign, said that “the stakes of removing humans from dangerous missions are significant.”
“Every time a person is exposed to a high-risk environment, there is a possibility of injury, loss of life, or reduced combat effectiveness,” he said. “Protecting personnel means preserving experience, training, and leadership that cannot easily be replaced.”