By Olha Hembik | 2025-09-15

WARSAW -- Former managers, IT specialists, chefs and entrepreneurs are some of the people who have come together in the 20th Separate Regiment K-2, a leading Ukrainian unmanned systems unit.

The regiment, originating from a reconnaissance group, has excelled in combat since the onset of Russia's full-scale war, using advanced drone technologies, including reconnaissance and attack drones, as well as robotic ground systems.

"Being in K-2 doesn't mean being better -- it means doing more. If others do 20 squats, you do 23," said Commander Kyrylo Veres in an August interview with Ukrainer.

K-2 members have fought in Popasna, Avdiivka, Marinka and Krasnohorivka and defended Siversk near Verkhniokamianske in 2022.

"For 2.5 years, the Russians have made no significant advances here," states the K-2 website, crediting resilient infantry and drones for halting enemy forces. On August 15, K-2 joined the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Ukrainian military.

"For our unit, this is a symbolic and significant event. We used to be infantry, but the drone component had always been actively developed within our then mechanized battalion," the regiment said on their Telegram page.

Tech arsenal of K-2

K-2 pioneered 24/7 reconnaissance with "carousels" of Mavic quadcopters which are compact, Chinese-made drones originally designed for aerial photography and video. Its members frequently dropped munitions from first-person view (FPV) drones and operated heavy bombers before the full-scale invasion.

Veres said K-2 is expanding into a major unit, set to be among the largest in robotic ground systems.

In a 15-kilometer frontline area, K-2 evacuated 15 service members in a month using ground robots, which will "ride around, save people and fight," according to Veres.

The K-2 unit plans to create and refine what it calls a "drone line." According to the unit, effective drone-operating teams will be deployed along the entire line of contact. The goal is to establish a so-called kill zone, an area of concentrated fire between Ukrainian infantry and enemy forces, to destroy the enemy's offensive potential.

"We need to destroy the majority of those who reach the front line," Veres said. "There is a kill zone, but not on that scale. In the near future, when the unit gains combat capability, we want to get to that point."

The role of drones

Oleksandr Antoniuk, a political consultant serving in the Ukrainian military, stated that drones and related technologies have fundamentally transformed the war.

Ukraine pioneered their battlefield refinement, exemplified by the Magura V5 and V7 sea drones, which sank one-third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and expelled the remainder from Ukrainian waters and Crimea, he told Kontur.

Antoniuk also highlighted that Ukrainian underwater drones were used successfully by the Security Service of Ukraine to mine the Crimean Bridge on June 3, as well as drone strikes on Russian refineries and their role in special operations like Spider's Web, which destroyed or damaged 41 Russian bombers.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to unmanned systems, we've already reached parity, because the Russian army is using both FPV drones and fiber-optic drones," he added.

Russia's success in adopting drones directly depends on access to technology it obtains "through various schemes" from China, Antoniuk noted.

Veres added that combat conditions demand constant innovation.

"War is like fashion: you constantly need to be coming up with something new," he said.

Building a robot battalion

K-2 announced a fundraising campaign to build a robot battalion, aiming to raise 20 million hryvnia (€415,000).

The funds will equip a workshop and workstations for soldiers, protect evacuation trailers and fit robots with Starlink and electronic warfare systems.

Military expert Mykhailo Zhirokhov, who studies local conflicts, noted that the deployment of robotic ground systems in Ukraine's military is in its infancy.

"We didn't have the resources to develop these alongside drones," he told Kontur.

Like drones evolving from civilian Mavics to AI-equipped autonomous systems since 2022, Zhirokhov expects rapid advancements in UGVs.

Initial systems emerged through volunteers, and once their battlefield benefits proved undeniable, "the military command and state took notice," Zhirokhov said.

These systems primarily aid support units, evacuate the wounded, conduct combat and operate in frontline and contested "gray zones."

"There are systems that help hold areas using firearm guidance, like machine guns," added Antoniuk.

Although these systems cannot fully replace humans, they can conduct fire-for-effect missions against the enemy, substituting for riflemen at frontline positions, he said.

Antoniuk emphasized the urgency of implementing robotic ground systems.

"We have those kinds of developments. The technology exists. These systems must be implemented immediately, especially considering that we don't have the luxury of [unlimited] personnel like the terrorist Russian state has."

Serhii Kraivanovich, a journalist and Ukrainian serviceman, noted that these systems can be used for ambushes on approach routes but primarily as part of medical support logistics.

He highlighted significant challenges in battlefield evacuation, noting that Russian forces sometimes booby-trap corpses with mines to target recovery teams.

"A pressing issue is evacuation from the battlefield: when you have service members doing it, sometimes there can be significant personnel losses," Kraivanovich told Kontur, adding that technical solutions should prioritize preserving personnel lives.

Zhirokhov called for UGV training programs like those for drone pilots.

"Service members must support the initiative. In this case, the K-2 commander is the driving force," he said.