Ukraine’s ground – Ukrainian troops are using remote-controlled ground drones to get older civilians out of Lyman, including a vehicle-run rescue of four older adults in Donetsk that relied on two-way communications and a staged handoff to boat and car transport. The operations
When the woman stepped close to the drone, the next few minutes had the feel of a lifeline being tested in real time.
In Lyman. a city in Donetsk. Ukrainian troops used a remote-controlled “iron soldier” to evacuate older civilians stuck near the front lines. The operation—captured in aerial drone footage and ground-drone camera clips—was organized around a two-way comms system on the vehicle. allowing troops to relay instructions to evacuees while the buggy carried out its work.
Kraken. an uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) company of the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps. said last Wednesday that its troops evacuated four older adults from Lyman using a heavy ground drone. The company’s commander. a lieutenant identified only by his call sign “Greek” for security purposes. described how the mission shifted when one of the evacuees approached the robot and asked for help.
Greek said the UGV operators were carrying out a logistics mission when the woman came forward. She told them that her neighbor had been wounded by shrapnel. and that the party of four wanted to leave the area. Greek said the troops discussed the evacuation’s details with them—“the date. time. place. and the procedure that they and we would follow to make the evacuation successful.”.
The equipment did not simply reach the civilians—it returned to do more. Kraken deployed a Zmiy Logistic, a four-wheeled buggy that can carry a maximum payload of about 1,100 pounds. The vehicle drove roughly 10 miles to the evacuees in Lyman, then drove another 10 miles back to a river crossing.
At that crossing, Ukrainian troops received the evacuees and transported them by boat to a safer location. The wounded were taken to a hospital in the nearest town by car.
The same kind of urgency has appeared in earlier rescues. In early April. a separate operation in Lyman saved a 77-year-old Ukrainian woman using a ground drone operated under the 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade. The brigade said soldiers spotted her near a battlefield. approached with a blanket that read “Grandma. get on!” and then positioned her on the tracked system after she was found.
Greek said these rescues matter because some Ukrainian civilians still live in what is called the “gray zone. ” a contested no-man’s land that can be about 10 to 12 miles wide. He described the conditions as “extremely dangerous. ” adding that in these areas there is usually “no stable government. no shops. hospitals. or schools. ” and that civilians live without electricity while under constant shelling.
People often stay for reasons that are both practical and deeply personal. Greek said many remain because they are reluctant to leave the homes they grew up in, or because they worry about evacuating alongside sick family members.
Even when free options exist, departures are not always straightforward. Ukrainian government support and some charity organizations offer free resettlement to evacuees. but Greek said some civilians are still concerned about the financial constraints of living elsewhere or hold out hope that the war will end soon.
As the war drags into its fifth year. Ukraine and Russia have both intensified the use of ground drones for frontline missions that would otherwise put human troops at great risk. Ukrainian officials describe these tracked or wheeled “iron soldiers” or “ground robots” as modified vehicles designed to travel for miles with cargo or to remotely carry small arms.
The push is also becoming industrial in scale. In April. Ukraine’s defense minister. Mykhailo Fedorov. said the country was planning to buy 25. 000 UGVs in the first half of 2026 alone. Fedorov said the goal was for “100% of frontline logistics to be handled by UGVs. ” and he added that the drones had carried out over 21. 500 missions in the first quarter of the year.
For the civilians in Lyman, the policy is measured in distance and timing: a 10-mile run to reach people near the front, another 10-mile return to a river crossing, and then the final leg by boat and car—when the only stable thing is getting out before the next shell lands.
Ukraine Lyman ground drones UGV Kraken 3rd Army Corps Zmiy Logistic gray zone elderly evacuation frontline logistics Mykhailo Fedorov 25 000 UGVs iron soldiers