Ukraine has a new battlefield robot the size of a car. Handed to the Argos unmanned-systems company of Ukraine’s 2nd Shostka Regiment, the heavy ground robot hauls up to 1.5 tons of ammunition and supplies and can pull three wounded soldiers out at once, with no crew aboard, the National Guard reports.

Ground robots already run much of the front’s most dangerous hauling and medical evacuation, a record 31,398 missions in October, more than four times the January count, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, sparing soldiers the deadliest trips. The new machine is a step up in size: it does the work of a truck and an ambulance without drivers inside.

A car, not a robot

Unlike the compact platforms Ukraine has fielded by the thousands, the new robot is built on a vehicle scale, with a diesel engine and full drive to handle rough terrain, according to the National Guard.

“This is not just the compact robotic complex we are used to seeing. In its dimensions and design, it looks more like a full-fledged car,” says an operator with the callsign Odinson.

Fewer trips, fewer targets

Size is a survival calculation. Russian drone teams hunt Ukraine’s supply routes, ground robots included, so every run into the gray zone is a chance to be hit, and a machine that carries more per trip means fewer trips.

The heavy ground robots Ukraine has rolled out this fall top out around 500 kilograms a load. At 1.5 tons, the new one roughly triples that.

Previously, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it wants to shift as much frontline logistics as possible onto robots.

Built to carry the wounded out

The robot deck takes ammunition, food, and other gear, but its main purpose is evacuation: it can carry three wounded soldiers out at once, lifting them from dangerous ground without sending an evacuation crew in after them.

Casualty evacuation has become one of the war’s deadliest tasks, fought in a drone-ruled “kill zone” tens of kilometers deep that Ukraine has increasingly handed to robots. The National Guard says it would soon show the machine in action, hauling cargo across difficult terrain.