Ukraine has approved a drone built to reach the deepest parts of Russia. Ukraine's Defense Ministry has codified the domestic Dovbush T40 uncrewed aviation complex, a strategic-level drone for deep reconnaissance and precision strikes on distant Russian targets, the ministry announced.

The drone extends the reach of Ukraine's homegrown deep-strike arsenal to Siberia. With a wingspan of nearly 5 meters, the Dovbush T40 has enough range to hit targets beyond the Urals and in Russian Siberia.

What the drone does

The Dovbush T40 is a multi-role strategic aircraft. It is designed for deep reconnaissance, fire correction, and precision strikes on structures, equipment, and enemy personnel far from the line of contact.

Its endurance is the enabler. More than a day aloft gives it the range to reach targets, letting Ukraine threaten the deep-rear sites, from factories to airfields, that Russia has kept far from the front for safety.

Its advantages over similar drones

The drone offers several edges, the ministry said. It has ultra-low radar visibility, a high-performance engine with electronic fuel injection, and a choice of strike methods, either as a kamikaze drone or by dropping a munition.

It is built to work under jamming. The Dovbush T40 stands out for high resistance to electronic warfare, according to the Defense Ministry, the recurring requirement for any Ukrainian drone meant to fly deep into a contested electromagnetic environment.

It builds on combat-proven predecessors

The drone comes from a maker with a track record. It was built by a Ukrainian enterprise whose Dovbush T20 and Kotyhoroshko drones have operated on the battlefield since 2022 with some of the highest effectiveness ratings.

The T40 is an evolution of a proven system. The medium-range Dovbush T20, used for reconnaissance, real-time artillery correction, and pinpoint strikes, evolved through battlefield feedback into the longer-range, more powerful T40. It joins a fast-growing domestic fleet: since the start of 2026, Ukraine's Defense Ministry has codified 413 uncrewed systems, almost all of which are Ukrainian-made.

A Russian drone knocked out the robot sent to evacuate two wounded Ukrainian assault troops. Their company commander went in himself. He drove into the kill zone in an unarmored pickup truck, without body armor, and carried them out.

The Joint Forces Group released the footage on 16 August 2026. It identified the commander as Vladyslav Polskyi of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment (Code 9.2).

The two soldiers had captured Russian positions and were pulling back when Russian Molniya drones hit them, the group said. Both were seriously wounded and could not move on their own. A ground robot was sent to pull them out. A second drone hit it, and it stopped in the open, leaving the men exposed.

The group framed the rescue as the reason the regiment's soldiers take on the hardest assaults when others hold back: they know their commanders do not hide behind them, and will give everything to save every one of their men.

In June, Ukrainian ground robots ran nearly 17,000 supply and evacuation runs, taking on the exposed trips that used to get crews killed. Ukraine now fields some 25,000 combat robots. Their main limit, a presidential adviser says, is not hardware but staying connected under jamming, and a new Ukrainian antenna is meant to help. But no antenna stops what happened here. A drone hit the evacuation robot and knocked it out.

When the robot failed, the risk it was built to absorb fell back on the commander.