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There were no marching soldiers, no tanks and no columns of heavy armour. In their place came robots designed to perform many of the same tasks.
Marking 35 years of independence, Ukraine staged a different kind of military parade on Monday, showcasing its defence technology and unmanned warfare capabilities.
The parade offered a glimpse of the future of warfare and how profoundly four and a half years of Russia’s full-scale invasion have transformed the Ukrainian military.
Dozens of multi-role unmanned ground vehicles moved along Khreshchatyk, Kyiv’s main street, including robotic systems designed for combat, reconnaissance, logistics and the evacuation of wounded soldiers from the battlefield.
On the Dnipro river, Ukraine displayed the naval drones that have helped it challenge Russia’s once-dominant Black Sea Fleet despite possessing no conventional fleet of comparable size.
They included variants of the Magura and Sea Baby families of unmanned vessels, which Ukraine has used to strike Russian warships, military infrastructure and other targets.
Above the capital flew another generation of machines that has become indispensable on Ukraine’s battlefields: reconnaissance and strike UAVs, alongside interceptor drones developed to shoot down Russian drones attacking Ukrainian cities around the clock.
The parade offered a snapshot of a military transformation that has taken place at extraordinary speed and scale since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Four and a half years later unmanned systems have become central to operations across land, sea and air, performing tasks once entrusted overwhelmingly to soldiers, aircraft, ships and armoured vehicles.
In 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed legislation creating the Unmanned Systems Forces — a separate branch of the military dedicated to drone warfare — making Ukraine the first country to establish an independent branch built around unmanned systems.
The innovation reflects both technological development and brutal necessity.
Ukraine is defending itself against a much larger country with greater reserves of soldiers and conventional weapons.
Unmanned systems have allowed Kyiv to strike Russian forces while reducing the exposure of its own troops, especially infantry, extend the reach of relatively inexpensive weapons, and compensate for shortages ranging from artillery ammunition to naval power.
Monday’s display brought those strands of the war together in the centre of Kyiv.
Ukraine has not held a conventional military parade since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022.
In previous years, Khreshchatyk became better known for a very different display of military hardware: burnt-down Russian tanks and armoured vehicles captured or destroyed on the battlefield.