What happened
The Ukrainian army has successfully airdropped ground robots behind enemy lines, resulting in the elimination of 3,000 Russian soldiers and the recapture of 48 square miles of occupied territory in Donetsk.
The operation, known as Operation Vivaldi, was carried out by the Third Army Corps of the Ukraine's Armed Forces and involved the use of bomber drones to drop small unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) up to 9 miles behind the Russian frontline.
The UGVs, equipped with cameras, completed over 15,700 missions, targeting Russian command posts, shelters, logistics hubs, and river crossings. According to Gen. Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the Third Army Corps, the operation was a historic moment and marked the first time this tactic has been used.
The recaptured territory includes five villages and three settlements in the contested region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Russia currently occupies about 80% of Donetsk, which is one of the two provinces that make up the industrial mineral-rich Donbas region.
