Daily Mail Frontline reporter Richard Pendlebury and cameraman Jamie Wiseman travel to the Kharkiv Oblast’s frontline areas, where they meet the futuristic ground drones deployed by Ukraine’s most innovative combat unit, which has been given the nickname the ‘Billionaires Brigade.’ It claims to be the template for a future, cutting edge Ukrainian army. As such, the brigade is able to recruit Ukraine’s best officer cadets, counts a number of celebrities among its volunteer soldiers, and is no stranger to visiting global dignitaries. So who are these poster boys?
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NewsTranscript
00:00Go fetch!
00:03Fetch!
00:08Meet Robodog.
00:10Today she's in a playful mood.
00:12She doesn't bark and she doesn't bite.
00:15But if you're with the Russian military,
00:16she can do a whole lot worse than nip your ankle.
00:20Better to have her on your side.
00:22This dog is much more obedient than my greyhound.
00:25In this two-part male front-line film,
00:27shot in the winter of 2025,
00:30cameraman Jamie Wiseman and I
00:31travel through the Kharkiv Oblast front-line areas.
00:34We meet the futuristic ground drones
00:36deployed by Ukraine's most innovative combat unit,
00:39which has been given the nickname the Billionaire's Brigade.
00:42We spend an evening in a vampire's crypt
00:44near the Russian border
00:46and watch the vampires bite.
00:48We see how a disabled tank is recovered
00:50under cover of darkness,
00:52while the ever-present drone threat
00:54interrupts an old-fashioned artillery strike.
00:56OK, there's a drone very close
00:58and we're going to have to go to the shelter ourselves.
01:04Front-line is spending a week with Robodog's owners,
01:06the so-called Billionaire's Brigade.
01:08The unit claims to be the template
01:10for a future cutting-edge Ukrainian army.
01:13Certainly it's among the most innovative
01:14and glamorous of the front-line formations here.
01:16As such, the brigade is able to recruit
01:18Ukraine's best officer cadets,
01:20counts a number of celebrities
01:22among its volunteer soldiers,
01:24and is no stranger to visiting global dignitaries.
01:27It might have started as a territorial defence unit,
01:30but dad's army it is not.
01:32So who are these poster boys?
01:34The 13th Hartyr Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine,
01:37as it's officially titled,
01:39was founded and funded in 2022
01:42by Savolod Koshymaiko,
01:43one of the country's wealthiest businessmen.
01:46Most of its battles have taken place
01:48inside its native Kharkiv Oblast.
01:50It led the charge to the Russian border
01:52during the Ukraine's successful Kharkiv counter-offensive
01:55in the autumn of 22.
01:57Last May, the unit stopped in its tracks,
01:59the Russians renewed push towards Kharkiv city.
02:03While to the south of us in Donbass,
02:04the Russians are advancing relentlessly.
02:06Up here on the battlefield between Kharkiv city
02:09and the Russian border,
02:10the invaders are not only being held by Hartyr,
02:12but in some places pushed back.
02:15Hartyr believes in a more cerebral approach to combat.
02:19Mission planning and execution follow NATO
02:21rather than Soviet protocols.
02:23Each attack is prepared and reviewed in detail
02:26using 3D printer-made models and specialist software.
02:29A Hartyr S3 planning officer spoke to Frontline
02:33about the brigade's adoption
02:34of the seven-step military decision-making process,
02:37which is followed in the West.
03:22The first step is the map,
03:24where we use models printed on a 3D printer.
03:29The second step is the larger model,
03:34where, say, commanders of small infantry groups,
03:39commanders of vehicles are present.
03:43And the third step, the largest one,
03:47is the work on the terrain itself,
03:49when units in full combat gear
03:54with their combat vehicles
03:59work out the most important stages of the task,
04:04such as deployment in combat order,
04:08on vehicles, acceleration,
04:10and, in fact, those actions,
04:15for example, the actions of assault groups
04:17that are intended for the execution of the task.
04:21This is how that theory looks in practice.
04:24The footage you're about to see now,
04:25provided to Frontline by Hartyr,
04:27chronicles a combat operation in the second half of 2024,
04:31from the planning process
04:32to the full-blown assault on Russian positions
04:35in a forest northeast of Kharkiv city.
04:37Some of the footage has been censored for security reasons.
04:47Here we see unit commanders being walked and talked
04:51through a floor model of the operational area
04:53and their individual roles.
05:05A diversionary feint is explained.
05:12The attack's armored thrust is practiced for a final time.
05:18The assault troops gather in darkness
05:20and are assigned to their vehicles.
05:44Sunrise.
05:45The attack is about to be launched.
05:48As Hartyr's armor advances on the enemy tree line,
05:50watched by friendly drones,
05:52artillery is beginning to fall.
05:56This is the moment of truth for the assault infantry.
06:00Basic instructions from the troop commander.
06:10The assault troops have been given dozens of GoPro cameras
06:13to record and later analyze the unfolding attack.
06:16What you're watching is not an exercise.
06:19This is a close quarter small arms battle
06:21on the edge of the forest.
06:25Tension back in the control room.
06:30The Hartyr assault troops are on top of a Russian dugout.
06:42Now the enemy is hitting back.
06:44Grads begin to fall into the forest along the line of advance.
06:48The small arms battle intensifies
06:50as more Russian positions are reached.
06:52Grenades are being used.
06:59Ukrainian attack drones now enter the fray.
07:14Ukrainian artillery is also engaging the Russian positions.
07:39The pressure begins to tell on the defenders.
07:44The Ukrainian drones record Russian soldiers fleeing their positions.
08:01Clearing of enemy positions with grenades and small arms fire is underway.
08:05The fighting is intense.
08:09Here, a Ukrainian throws a grenade.
08:14Another grenade into another Russian trench.
08:32Here is an enemy dugout with casualties.
08:44We worked out about five or six holes.
08:47We threw all the grenades there.
08:49A brutal killer.
08:52Frontline understands that as a result of this assault,
08:55the Russians suffered more than 60 casualties,
08:58lost a howitzer and an anti-tank firing position,
09:00and were driven back to their next line of defense.
09:05Hartyr can get their hands as dirty as any other infantry brigade.
09:09But what we really wanted to see were the combat robots
09:12for which the unit is known.
09:14The Ukrainians call them ground drones.
09:17It took a little time to arrange the demonstration.
09:20That's because the remote-controlled machines are already being used on the battlefield.
09:24They're not toys or prototypes.
09:27In fact, Hartyr claims to have carried out the world's first ever
09:30remote-controlled machine-only attack on a Russian position in Kharkiv in December.
09:36To view the evidence, we drove north to Kharkiv from Donbass
09:39on one of the few truly wintry days in January.
09:44The drone unit operates out of a secret workshop in Kharkiv city.
09:48It's led by 20-somethings rather than the Generation Xs
09:52you tend to find in charge of other units on the frontline.
09:55In fact, the average age of the whole of the Hartyr brigade is only 31.
09:59These are young scientists or gamers who've brought their
10:02peacetime skills to develop this high-tech warfare.
10:06Jess, aged 20, is the unit's coder.
10:14How does it feel to work?
10:33How do you feel about working for such a special unit?
10:44I could ask you finally, what did you do before the full-scale invasion?
11:14Thank you very much, Jess.
11:23Pan-26 is the unit's deputy commander, a molecular biologist by training.
11:28He was about to begin a PhD in Germany when the full-scale invasion began.
11:32His particular interest was biological evolution.
11:35Now he's involved in the development of war machines.
11:38What we're looking at actually are ground drones.
11:42These are robots that can be remotely controlled on the battlefield, yes?
11:45Of course, they can be remotely controlled and we usually control them remotely
11:52and try to do it as far from the battlefield as it's possible for the safety of our operators.
12:00This particular drone is used for logistics.
12:04We can see it's carrying a lot of firewood here.
12:07Yeah, it is because we used it for testing.
12:11It's capabilities.
12:13But it could be used for ammunition?
12:15Of course, ammunition, any supply.
12:19I guess it's actually replacing human beings for doing
12:24or more vulnerable vehicles which need to be manned by human beings.
12:28Yes, you're right.
12:30It's replacing humans, making their job easier, safer,
12:36and also replacing us, the vehicles that are more vulnerable and more costly.
12:43I can see these, they have either tracks or they have heavy tyres.
12:48These are capable of going across pretty rough terrain, yeah?
12:51Yes, but everything has its limit.
12:56Could you tell me, I know this unit is still pretty secret and confidential,
13:01but how long have you been operating on the battlefield?
13:05Our unit has been operating on the battlefield for around half a year.
13:11And that's on the Harkiv Front, yeah?
13:12Yes.
13:14And are you, I know this is early days yet,
13:17but are you encouraged by the results of your operations with these ground drones?
13:22We enjoy our result because we don't have a lot of people.
13:29Each person is highly specialised.
13:32We do a lot of work with a small amount of people and we like it.
13:38And I understand that these vehicles, these drones, are developed entirely in Ukraine?
13:44Yes, they're manufactured in Ukraine, but the majority of them are upgraded
13:52and modified by us before we use them.
13:55The final question I was going to ask you is,
13:57so are we actually looking at the future of warfare here?
14:01We are not looking at the future, we are looking already at modern warfare.
14:08This is the reality of warfare in 2020?
14:10Of course, it is our reality.
14:14All kinds of military robots are to be found here,
14:17from machines that can lay anti-tank mines or mount machine guns to heavy load carriers.
14:22All are controlled remotely, obviating the need for a human to be in the line of fire.
14:27Ukraine is increasingly short of soldiers.
14:30Such robots could provide the answer to the shortfall.
14:34The star of the show, because it, or rather she, is so very strange, is Robodog.
14:39This is the 22-year-old unit commander, callsign Happy.
14:43In repose, Robodog looks like an oven-ready chicken,
14:47except a green light has now started blinking in its head.
14:51This is 13 Brigade's famous robot dog.
14:53Robodog, just waking up from its sleep.
15:01Robodog is amazing, and also more than a little creepy.
15:09Unlike the other robots deployed by the Brigade, she was not developed in Ukraine.
15:17She is an adaptation of the Go-2 model, made by the Chinese company Unitary Robotics.
15:22Off the shelf, the Go-2 costs a little over £2,000.
15:31Hati has been trialling Robodog for close-quarter battlefield reconnaissance,
15:34using its stealth capabilities and powerful head-mounted camera
15:38that can relay real-time video feed to an operator several kilometres away.
15:43It's been reported that both the US Marines and Chinese Army have tested an armed version of Robodog.
15:49The Marines with an anti-tank missile, the Chinese with an assault rifle.
15:55A cavalcade of battle robots sets off for the countryside.
16:01This is all very weird.
16:04This creature also belongs to the unit.
16:06We arrive in a field a few miles outside Kharkiv city.
16:09Robodog is let off her leash and shows a surprising turn of pace.
16:14You can see how well she is camouflaged, merging into the mud.
16:18In case you're wondering, I say she, because dog is a feminine noun in both Ukrainian and Russian.
16:24Robodog is a female dog, and she is a female dog.
16:28She is a female dog, and she is a female dog.
16:30In case you're wondering, I say she, because dog is a feminine noun in both Ukrainian and Russian.
16:37This is an anti-tank mine-laying drone.
16:40Now in combat conditions, the operator would be several kilometres away
16:45and would be controlling it via a Mavic drone overhead.
16:52And I will just show you how it works.
16:58One mine at a time.
17:01So
17:14all done remotely and without any particular risk to the operator,
17:19we now have an anti-tank barrier on this part of the field.
17:23This particular ground drone is designed to mount a 7.62 machine gun somewhere here.
17:30It has been used in combat, and it has been used to attack Russian positions.
17:36Again, it will be used remotely.
17:40The operator can be several kilometres away, and he or she will be directing it
17:46via a Mavic-type reconnaissance drone overhead.
17:49Let's see it move.
17:54You see, it's got plate armour, and the turret also revolves.
17:59This kind of technology is not the future of ground combat.
18:02This is actually happening now on the battlefield.
18:05Here we see footage of one of the Ukrainian machine gun drones
18:08successfully attacking a Russian position inside Kursk.
18:13I'm invited to take control of one of the small fast robots
18:16that could perform several tasks from carrying supplies to kamikaze attacks.
18:29It's great fun.
18:31But one's attention keeps returning to the sinister, crowd-pleasing robo-dog.
18:36Jump.
18:38Very good.
18:43One final trick.
18:47Roll over.
18:48Roll over.
18:49This particular robo-dog doesn't bark,
18:51but has been programmed to say something very rude to any Russian it encounters.
18:59Okay, that might have to be bleeped.
19:03We saw it in the workshop, where it did a few tricks.
19:06Now it's out in the field, and you can see it's been running around this field very easily.
19:13It's got a camera in its nose, which it uses for reconnaissance.
19:19It seems very agile, particularly on this flat surface here.
19:24It can do a variety of amusing tricks, but
19:27it's intent, its purpose is deadly serious.
19:33Sit.
19:37Very good dog.
19:44This footage is giving a slightly misleading impression,
19:47as it is the robo-dog's controller, a soldier standing just off camera,
19:51who is the one following my instructions, rather than the drone itself.
19:55No doubt, with the evolution of AI, that day will come.
19:59Now let's look at what robo-dog saw of this sequence.
20:02Or rather, the images conveyed to her pilot.
20:05Good dog.
20:06Go fetch.
20:07Fetch.
20:19This dog is much more obedient than my greyhound.
20:23Like a spaniel after a walk on a wet winter's day, she needs a bath.
20:28Nor is she completely sure-footed.
20:32This is some considerable leap forward from
20:36K9, who appeared in Doctor Who while I was, during my childhood.
20:42Meanwhile, around us, the more conventional war carries on.
20:45In the distance, smoke begins to rise from the latest glide bomb hit on Kharkiv city,
20:50while further along the treeline, a mobile anti-Shahi drone team waits for dusk,
20:54and the next Russian onslaught.
20:56Their anti-aircraft gun is from a much older generation of war technology,
21:00to the ground drones frolicking on the field.
21:04And that is probably the technology, deployed in huge quantities,
21:08which will count in the end.
21:10In the next episode, we spend a night in a vampire crypt,
21:13watch a disabled tank being rescued, and shelter from a Russian drone.