Ukraine is converting Soviet-era BRDM-2 armored reconnaissance vehicles into remotely controlled unmanned ground vehicles capable of operating up to 1,000 km away.

The conversion aims to keep troops out of harm’s way as front‑line movement remains contested by widespread drone use. Unmanned ground vehicles have been used for logistics and casualty evacuation and are increasingly employed in combat and air defence.

Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn of the Central Innovation Activities Directorate said the system will allow remote operation up to 1,000 km and will replace the Soviet GAZ gasoline engine with a foreign‑made diesel engine from General Motors or Mercedes, and will add an automatic transmission. The platform will integrate day and night cameras, protected data links, mine protection for the hull, tubeless high‑mobility tires, a backup remote‑control system inside the hull and anti‑fragmentation protection. A remotely controlled combat module capable of mounting a 12.7 mm automatic weapon is planned.

The vehicles will use machine vision for object recognition and classification and will communicate through Ukraine’s Delta command and control system, according to Andrii Hrytseniuk, chief executive of the Brave1 defense technology hub.

ArmSpetsTekhnolohiya unveiled the BRDM‑2M variant in June during the Defense Builder Accelerator Demo Day; the directorate is preparing the system for front‑line deployment, though no timeline has been provided.

In separate reports, the Institute for the Study of War noted that North Korea transferred around 50 KN‑30 ballistic missiles to Russia in July 2026, and that roughly 8,500 North Korean troops, including 400 drone operators, have been deployed to Russian forces, with possible requests for up to 50,000 additional troops.

Ukrainian officials are seeking Elon Musk’s approval to operate Starlink‑equipped drones against ballistic missile launchers up to 200 km inside Russia, a capability that could extend Ukraine’s long‑range strike reach.

Russia struck a shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih on August 21, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 100, including children, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

A Russian drone attack on the Tabaky border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova damaged structures and halted traffic, Ukrainian border guards reported.

Ukraine announced deep strikes on an oil refinery in Perm and a military air base in Volgograd, and claimed destruction of a Russian S‑300 surface‑to‑air missile system.

Social media video showed a Ukrainian MiG‑29 escorting a Russian Shahed drone that later crashed, while Russian forces have tested a tactic in which a drone is activated by a microphone detecting vehicle sound.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested a National Guard commander for allegedly selling access to his Delta account to Russian intelligence in exchange for cryptocurrency.