Ukraine's ex-defence minister wants a $10,000 robot soldier

On September 26, at the IT Arena conference in Lviv, Mykhailo Fedorov announced his next project. In 2022 he launched Ukraine's Army of Drones. This one is the Army of Robots.

The plan is to hand ground robots the jobs that get infantry killed: evacuating the wounded, hauling ammunition, clearing mines, scouting, holding positions and, eventually, striking targets. Fedorov's cost target is about $10,000 per unit, and he says Ukraine needs tens of thousands of them. Humanoid machines are the centerpiece of the pitch, starting with simple, dangerous work. RTÉ's headline boiled it down to five words: "Robots should fight, not people."

He has some evidence on his side. Drones now account for more than 95% of strikes, Fedorov said in his announcement. He is also starting his own defence-tech company, with Palantir CEO Alex Karp lined up as a key investor.

The trailer and the trenches

Fedorov ran the Ministry of Defence from January to July 2026 before he was abruptly dismissed, and not everyone is sold. Breaking Defense reports the project has raised eyebrows in Ukraine. Military Times, which called it a "Manhattan Project" for killer robots, also noted that most of the futuristic designs in Fedorov's launch video, humanoids included, aren't used in combat today. The ground robots Ukraine does field almost always have a human operator at the controls, usually over Starlink.

His six- and twelve-month goals are his own public targets, not an official procurement plan. Then again, the last time Fedorov announced an army of machines, it changed how the war is fought. Plenty of militaries are watching to see if he can do it twice.

Sources: Ukrainska Pravda, Military Times, Breaking Defense, Euromaidan Press, RTÉ.