For 'Freedom and Democracy'
German manufacturer of robotic war systems supports the 'Azov' Nazi storm brigade of the Ukrainian army
Apologies to subscribers for going MIA over the past month! Susann Witt-Stahl and I wrote the following article which appeared in junge Welt, December 30, 2025. This post includes more images (the first one is from jW), and some more information about the Azov movement’s “Killhouse Academy.”
Investors are beating down the doors of the German defense startup Arx Robotics. “Defense has now also become a priority for venture capital investors,” said CEO Marc Wietfeld, a former Bundeswehr captain, to Handelsblatt, referring to the gradual withdrawal of the United States from the war in Ukraine. As a producer of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), which are considered game changers for the future of modern warfare, Arx Robotics is currently writing an economic mega-success story.
“I believe this is about something much bigger,” Wietfeld emphasized in November 2025. What high ideals he means can be found on the company’s website: among other things, it states that the company ensures the “sovereignty of Europe” by providing assets to strengthen its “technological resilience in every mission.” Arx Robotics promotes its unmanned tank “Gereon” using the noblest of motives: the “defense” of “freedom and democracy.” After all, it delivered 30 units to Ukraine in March 2025—financed with funds from the German federal government’s “capacity-building assistance.” Last month, a new major contract was already announced, through which Ukraine is to receive the “world’s largest military robotics fleet” (there is talk of an “expansion by several hundred systems”). Prior to this, Arx Robotics had described its support for Ukraine through its UGVs as the “decisive moment in Europe’s embrace of autonomous military technologies.”
Who else is being “embraced” in this way is revealed by the unit insignia worn by Ukrainian soldiers shown using the device in an Arx Robotics promotional video: the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade of the 3rd Army Corps, which is under the command of Andriy Biletsky, the most powerful neo-Nazi leader in Ukraine.
Blessed Expansion
Wietfeld founded Arx Robotics in 2021 together with his former Bundeswehr officer colleagues Maximilian Wied and Stefan Röbel. In addition to the “Gereon,” the company produces the wheeled unmanned ground vehicle “Hector” as well as an AI-based operating system that can be used to retrofit conventional military vehicles. Arx Robotics, whose customers also include the Bundeswehr, is headquartered in Oberding in the district of Erding in Upper Bavaria and has branch offices in Berlin, Kyiv, and London; it is currently building a development center in southwest England to produce systems tailored to the operational requirements of the British Army. Over the course of the year, business media reported that investment sums in the double-digit millions had been raised.
Meanwhile, engine manufacturer Deutz has joined Arx Robotics as a lead investor, and the tank transmission producer Renk and Daimler Truck have been named as cooperation partners. As early as July, Marc Wietfeld met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Rome at the Ukraine Recovery Conference to discuss Arx Robotics’ work there.
What kind of “blessing” the expansion and UGV deliveries by Arx Robotics to Ukraine represent for the “Azov” military units is illustrated by posts on the company’s LinkedIn channel: the arms manufacturer supports the UGV school of the “Killhouse Academy” of the 3rd Assault Brigade, which is equipped with its own combat robot fleet and a simulation room, “financially, technically, and through direct collaboration,” as stated there. “Together we train operators, modernize capabilities, and accelerate the deployment of unmanned systems for logistics, reconnaissance, and evacuation.” Igor Kornilov, Arx Robotics’ managing director in Ukraine, had already announced the donation of a “Gereon” to “Killhouse.” On the historic date of May 8, 2025, the cooperation received a higher level of official recognition through a visit by Major General Christian Freuding, head of the Ukraine Situation Center at the German Federal Ministry of Defense.
UGV Fighters with SS Symbols
Contrary to claims made by Western media, the 3rd Assault Brigade, which operates the “Killhouse Academy,” is by no means “depoliticized.” On the contrary, it is firmly embedded in the “Azov” neo-Nazi movement, which for years has acted as a growing state within a state. “Killhouse” initiator Oleg “Romacha” Romanov—whom Freuding posed with for a photo and who today serves in the 21st Unmanned Systems Regiment “Kraken 1654” of the 3rd Army Corps—openly displays his ideology on social media through tattoos featuring swastika ornaments.
The brigade’s UGV platoon NC13 was established in 2024 within a company that adopted a slightly modified version of the symbol of the SS special unit “Dirlewanger” as its official unit insignia. The commander of NC13 is Mykola “Makar” Sinkevych, a leader of the neo-Nazi “Galician Youth,” which recently praised him as being “true to the cause.” His organization appears with the Celtic cross, Himmler’s SS “Black Sun” symbol, and the insignia of the Waffen-SS Division “Galicia.” The latter also adorns the field uniforms of NC13 fighters shown in a propaganda video by the 3rd Army Corps. Like all “Azov” military units, NC13 firmly stands in the tradition of the Bandera wing of the fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B), which collaborated with Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
“Azov” in a Top Position
In late summer 2025, Arx Robotics presented its first combat tank, the “Combat Gereon.” It was developed in cooperation with the defense-tech startup Frontline Robotics in Ukraine, which recently entered into a joint venture with Germany’s Quantum Systems to set up a drone production line for the Kyiv armed forces. The military-industrial complexes of the two countries are networking at breakneck speed. Arx Robotics relies on the practical knowledge of Ukrainian soldiers—“users on the front lines”—for its innovations. In October, NC13, together with other “Azov” units, organized the first large-scale crash test of robotic systems under simulated combat conditions on the outskirts of Lviv (it is not known whether products from Arx Robotics were used).
“What is happening there is not an evolution of warfare, but a revolution,” Marc Wietfeld said in an interview. Not least thanks to the extensive support of his company and the German government, the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade is among those at the forefront, significantly expanding its leadership role as the most technologically advanced unit in the Ukrainian armed forces—and thereby also the power of militant fascist forces in the country. “This is the new reality of war, where we set the rules,” the 3rd Assault Brigade declared as early as the founding of NC13 in September 2025.
Meanwhile, “Azov” chief ideologue Oleksii Rains, a member of the 3rd Assault Brigade and head of its center for ideological training, once again made clear that the war aim of his movement is a “Ukraine for Ukrainians” and that it is not interested in “freedom and democracy.” The latter, he wrote on the Telegram channel of his publishing house—which releases writings by “Azov” and the historical OUN-B—means only “collective helplessness.” “Ukrainians and Ukraine do not need democracy, but responsible authoritarian leadership.”
A question from the junge Welt editorial staff to Arx Robotics as to how it reconciles its cooperation with fascist military units with its proclaimed values-based corporate policy has so far gone unanswered.
MurderHouse, Inc.
(The following section, providing background information on Killhouse Academy, also appeared in junge Welt.)
The facility was founded in April 2024 as a drone school by the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade, which today forms the backbone of the 3rd Corps of the Ukrainian Army. “Killhouse Academy” offers six-day basic courses for soldiers and civilians in Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities, teaching fundamental knowledge about the construction and operation of FPV drones. In advanced courses, participants learn how to equip drones with ammunition and fly them in combat. Additionally, there is an engineering program in FPV drone technology. The “Killhouse” offerings also include a three-day bootcamp with armed combat exercises and other action—promising “adrenaline” and “adventure.” The stated main goal of the “Killhouse” operators is to increase the number of specialists and make them available for use by the Ukrainian armed forces.
In spring 2025, “Killhouse” expanded and opened a UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) school to train new platoons of the 3rd Assault Brigade. “Modern warfare requires constant development of the army and the introduction of innovations,” says the advertisement for the basic course offered there. “Ground robot systems are a future that is already effectively deployed on the battlefield.” Participants learn to transport supplies, wounded soldiers, and ammunition, as well as to destroy enemy targets. The training is supported by the NGOs “Dignitas Ukraine,” based in the U.S., the military school “Boriwiter,” which cooperates with NATO institutions such as the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre, and the German company ARX Robotics.
The coaching team is mainly recruited from veterans of the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade. Prices are around €160 for civilians; active soldiers can participate for free, veterans who are no longer on the front lines pay half, and foreigners pay double. Among the latter are international volunteers serving in the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as ordinary Western civilians who want to be prepared against Russia. “Who knows if the war will reach Europe in the future,” the Irish Times recently quoted a German-Ukrainian business consultant who proudly held up his “Killhouse” certificate for completing an FPV drone course. Springer’s Welt already celebrates Azov’s “Killhouse” as a “mix of West Point and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that is, the U.S. military academy and the elite tech cadet school on the American East Coast—but in Ukrainian.”
P.S. from the Azov Lobby Blog
When I refer to the “Bandera Lobby” on my other Substack, I mean an international network of people and organizations affiliated (or at least allied) with the OUN-B, the Banderite faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which still exists. Usually I am talking about OUN-B members and front groups. The “Azov Lobby” is not so conspiratorial, because we are not mapping out a secretive international Organization of Ukrainian Nazis, but merely keeping tabs on the Azovites and their supporters around the world.
What we might call the “extended Azov Lobby” (their supporters) made a stronger showing at the latest “Ukraine Action Summit” in Washington, which brought together hundreds of people to meet with members of Congress and their staffers. It served as another reminder that the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), after decades of Banderite domination, has become almost irrelevant outside of Chicago and certain Congressional offices.
Despite being the “largest umbrella organization,” the UCCA increasingly resembles a letterhead group, even in New York where it is headquartered down the street from various OUN-B “facade structures.” The UCCA is yet to welcome into its ranks any organizations created since 2014, and these are the most active ones.
Take for example “Razom for Ukraine,” also based in Manhattan’s “Little Ukraine,” or the East Village. Razom, established in 2014, is essentially the “Ukrainian AIPAC,” as the Congressional advisor Paul Massaro once put it when he was still a prominent online cheerleader for escalating the war in Ukraine by any means necessary.
Razom spearheaded the American Coalition for Ukraine (ACU) behind the Ukraine Action Summits. Steps were never taken to centralize the ACU, to replace or merge with the UCCA. Razom probably did not want a conflict with its Banderite neighbors (real control freaks) in Manhattan, who manage the “Ukrainian National Home” where this group is headquartered.
In 2022, Razom raised over $65 million, the majority of which “became military aid, mainly tactical medicine equipment and UAVs [drones],” according to its co-founder Lyuba Shipovich. But at the end of the year, the board of directors decided to “cut military support and focus on humanitarian aid.” Razom split, and reportedly stepped back from the American Coalition for Ukraine.
In February 2023, a Razom splinter group led by IT specialists Lyuba Shipovich and Dmytro Kavun founded Dignitas Ukraine, “which has since become a leading player in channeling resources and technology to Ukraine’s armed forces.” They adopted Razom’s “military and veteran project teams” and soon absorbed the “Victory Drones” project led by the famous “NGO militarist” Mariya Berlinska. “Events in Ukraine” explains that Berlinska is “quite well-known for her constant calls to ramp up mobilization” and personally believes, “Our task is to effectively hold out until the moment Russia collapses … [perhaps] another 10-12 years.”
Whereas Victory Drones raises money for drones and trains Ukrainians to use them, Victory Robots is another training program which Dignitas launched in 2025. These entities co-founded KillHouse Academy’s UGV school with the openly neo-Nazi 3rd Assault Brigade, which has taken over the 3rd Army Corps. “When we spun off into Dignitas in 2023, I felt like we really popularized cheap FPV [drone] technology to the masses and broad adoption,” claims Dignitas co-founder Dmytro Kavun. “Now we are popularizing ground robotic systems.”
Before the neo-Nazi “NC13” became the leading UGV unit in the 3rd Assault Brigade, there was the “Nova Technology Center.” Victor Pavlov, its former commander, now directs the KillHouse Academy School for Ground-Based Systems. Almost a year ago, Shipovich and Pavlov met the former CIA director and retired US general David Petraeus, probably in connection with his visit to the Killhouse Academy drone pilot training facility in Kyiv. This was months before Dignitas and the Azov movement launched the UGV school.
On May 8, the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, Victor Pavlov met the German major general Christian Freuding (then the head coordinator of German military assistance to Ukraine), who visited Killhouse Academy and got an early look at its UGV school. Later that month, Pavlov and the “White Fuhrer” of the Azov movement (Andriy Biletsky) spoke at the “DOU Day” technology conference in Kyiv, and Dignitas co-organized the first UGV conference in the capital, which featured speakers from the “Azov family” of military units.
In June, Killhouse Academy launched its UGV school, and Dignitas established Victory Robots. Meanwhile, Pavlov joined a “strategic program” at Kyiv-Mohyla Business School. Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov (now the head of the presidential administration) sat next to the “White Fuhrer” at the Killhouse event. Later that summer, Victor Pavlov showed the UGV school to the commander-in-chief of the Latvian armed forces, and Pavlov spoke at another conference in Kyiv about post-war Ukraine with Shipovich.
In early September, the Azov-friendly Ukrainian IT community “DOU” held a “picnic” that featured AB3 Tech, the 3rd Assault Brigade’s “startup accelerator.” The Azovite booth showcased Buria, a robotic turret produced by the Kyiv-based robotic engineering firm Frontline Industries, which has since then launched “Quantum Frontline Industries” with the German technology company Quantum-Systems. According to the latter, “the new German-Ukrainian defence joint venture … will establish Europe’s first fully automated, industrial-scale foreign production line for drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
As the summer came to an end, Victor Pavlov spoke at the EU-funded Defense Tech Valley 2025, an event organized by the Ukrainian government military technology platform “Brave1” that has reportedly become “the world’s largest investment summit focused on defense technologies.” This year, it took place at a football stadium in Lviv, and was said to have raised $100 million for military technology startups. According to the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, “the event showcased Ukraine’s role as a global hub of battlefield-proven innovation.” Furthermore, “This unique expertise positions Ukraine at the forefront of shaping how defence innovations are transforming global security.” The Azovite “AB3 Tech” of course had a booth to promote its expertise with “Combat-Tested Defense Tech.” Pavlov called on investors and producers to “stop imagining things, stop coming up with some hypothesis on your own, come and ask us.”
Naming an NGO providing military aid to Ukraine “Dignitas” is darkly funny as the word is probably most associated, in Western Europe at least, with assisted suicide.