Serhiy Prytula’s charitable foundation, the Norwegian organisation Fritt Ukraina and the 2nd NGU Corps Khartiya have announced a fundraising drive for 20 robotic buggies and UGVs for the 21st Unmanned Systems Regiment ‘Lava’. The foundation said this in a press release.
Serhiy Prytula’s charitable foundation and Khartiya are raising 15 million hryvnyas for five UGV crews for the Lava regiment. At the same time, the Norwegian organisation Fritt Ukraina will match the amount raised by the Ukrainian side. As a result, the campaign’s overall target is 30 million hryvnyas.
“Robotic buggies and UGVs make it possible to carry out some missions without a driver on the platform. Their value lies in reducing risks for fighters in kill-zone conditions, so every ground-robot mission means lives saved among Khartiya’s troops,” the corps stresses. “The crews for which the fundraising has been opened are a full-fledged ecosystem of robotic buggies, evacuation and logistics UGVs, as well as equipment for operators and engineers. Their average speed significantly exceeds the standard speed of UGVs: 35 km/h versus the usual 15 km/h,” the foundation notes.
The Lava regiment was created in 2025 as an unmanned systems battalion within the Khartiya corps. In spring 2026, Lava expanded into a regiment. Today, the unit carries out combat missions in the Kharkiv and Kupyansk sectors.
The regiment brings together aerial drones, ground robotic systems, an ISTAR intelligence, target acquisition and reconnaissance command-and-control system (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target, Acquisition and Reconnaissance — analysis, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) and its own R&D laboratories into a single organism that delivers a technological advantage on the battlefield.
Khartiya was formed at the start of the full-scale war in 2022 as a volunteer formation within the Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Fighters from the volunteer territorial community formation defended the Kharkiv region and were among the first to reach the state border during the Kharkiv counter-offensive; they fought in the Svatove sector and in Bakhmut. In 2023, Khartiya became the 13th Operational Brigade within the National Guard of Ukraine, holding positions in the Kupyansk–Lyman sector, including in the Serebrianskyy Forest. Since May 2024, the brigade has been defending Kharkiv and northern Kharkiv region. On 15 April 2025, two corps were created within the National Guard of Ukraine, including the 2nd Corps Khartiya, formed on the basis of the 13th Brigade Khartiya. It was headed by Colonel Ihor Obolyenskyy.
Fritt Ukraina is a Norwegian charity that has been systematically supporting Ukraine’s Defence Forces, including Khartiya, since 2022. Since then, the organisation has raised more than 570 million Norwegian kroner, delivered 1,150 vehicles and 7,449 drones to Ukrainian units, as well as significant quantities of communications equipment, generators and other gear.