The conversation is about humanoid robots, not wheeled/tracked objects with a gun or carrying cargo.

We have had remote controlled objects like this in various forms going back to WW2 and a few instances before. A wireless/fiber/starlink connection was added recently making them more robust. This is not a humanoid because they don't make sense from a power/weight carrying/so many other perspectives.

The only thing unique to the Ukrainian situation is the widescale usage.