Over the weekend at the IT Arena conference in Lviv, former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation, and Minister of Defence Mykhailo Fedorov announced the launch of the Army of Robots, opening applications to defencetech companies and engineers developing robotic technologies, as well as for a CTO/tech lead to spearhead the initiative.
From the Army of Drones to the Army of Robots
Fedorov pointed to the Army of Drones, launched in 2022, as a precedent for what he hopes to achieve.
“Back then, few people could imagine just how profoundly unmanned systems would change warfare.
Today, drones account for more than 95 per cent of strikes, and Ukraine already has more than 700 UAV manufacturers.”
But, he argued, technological warfare does not stand still, and Ukraine now needs its next breakthrough.
His next bet is the robotisation of warfare.
According to Fedorov, the Army of Robots has a straightforward mission: saving soldiers’ lives.
“Robots should do the most dangerous work so our service members can come home.”
He envisages a battlefield in which sensors first detect threats before robots enter dangerous areas, with humanoid and other robotic systems evacuating wounded soldiers, delivering ammunition, laying and clearing mines, conducting reconnaissance, defending positions, and striking targets.
“Be the first to enter places where today we put our service members’ lives at risk.”
The Army of Robots is intended to be an ecosystem rather than a single technology project. Fedorov and his team plan to invest in defencetech companies, launch their own technology projects, build R&D capabilities, test solutions alongside the military, and rapidly scale technologies that prove effective on the battlefield.
The initiative also builds on Fedorov’s plans for a new defence technology investment fund, announced in August.
Unlike a conventional VC fund, the vehicle is intended both to invest in existing Ukrainian defencetech startups and to create new companies around technologies considered critical to the battlefield. Its initial areas of focus include battlefield robotics, jet-powered interceptor drones, and low-cost AI-powered missiles.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp was subsequently announced as the investment firm’s first lead investor. Fedorov aims to bring international capital and expertise into Ukraine’s defence ecosystem while shortening the cycle between identifying a battlefield need, developing a technology, and deploying it at scale.
"Make robots fight instead of people"
Fedorov acknowledges that one of Ukraine’s biggest challenges is how quickly Russia can copy and scale military technologies.
“That means we must constantly create the next technology cycle before the enemy does.
To make that happen, we need to bring together the best engineers, battlefield experience, capital and technology — and focus them on one goal.
Make robots fight instead of people.”
Now working in the private sector, Fedorov says he is continuing the technological warfare strategy he pursued in government under the banner “AIR. LAND. ECONOMY.”
Robotics, he argues, is one area where Ukraine could achieve its next significant technological breakthrough.
Turning the battlefield into an R&D lab
The Army of Robots also sits within a broader Ukrainian defence innovation ecosystem increasingly built around shortening the distance between the battlefield and R&D.
One example is TrophyLab, launched by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense in June. The platform turns captured Russian military hardware into an R&D resource, giving verified defence companies, researchers, military units, and international partners access to technical documentation, research findings, and analysis of Russian weapons, as well as the ability to request physical examinations of captured systems.
For defencetech startups, this effectively creates a real-world battlefield laboratory. Companies working on anti-drone systems, electronic warfare, autonomous platforms, sensors, communications, and other military technologies can study actual adversary equipment and develop countermeasures against it, potentially significantly shortening R&D cycles.
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