Robert ‘Madyar’ Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, operates from a subterranean bunker that has become the nerve center of a drone warfare revolution. While Vladimir Putin assures Russians that victory is inevitable, this year's Victory Day parade in Moscow will lack military hardware for the first time in nearly two decades. The Kremlin's fear of a Ukrainian drone attack is palpable.
The Man Behind the Drones
Brovdi, a former grain trader who now heads the elite 414th brigade known as Madyar's Birds, has arguably done more than anyone to spook the Putin regime. His unit has conducted a series of long-range strikes against targets deep inside Russia, including ports, oil refineries, and missile factories. Brovdi acknowledges that a symbolic attack on Red Square would generate global headlines but prefers to strike where Russian air defenses are weaker.
“Why waste drones on the ‘great wall’?” he asks, referring to Moscow's enhanced security. “If you hit the energy sector or military that’s the best strike, on the periphery.”
Crippling Economic Blows
Recent drone attacks have hit the Black Sea oil terminal at Tuapse four times in two weeks. “Practically everything there has burned,” Brovdi says. Similar strikes targeted Baltic ports and even reached the Urals, hitting an oil refinery in Perm and fighter jets in Chelyabinsk, 1,050 miles from the frontline. Brovdi believes that smoldering infrastructure and dark oil clouds point the way to victory by crashing Russia's economy.
Putin spends 40% of his $530 billion annual budget on the military. Brovdi estimates that 100 million tonnes of Russian oil, worth $100 billion, is exported annually from ports within drone range. Ukraine also claims that Russian military casualties have exceeded recruitment for five consecutive months, with 30,000 to 34,000 deaths each month.
Inside the Bunker
Meeting Brovdi involves elaborate security and a mystery ride in a car with blacked-out windows. After President Zelenskyy, he is Russia's top assassination target. His operations center is deep underground, lined with sleeping pods and a room filled with computer screens and live video feeds. Drones hang from the ceiling, and an electronic table itemizes enemy losses in real time.
Brovdi, once clean-shaven and suited, now wears a green uniform and a long beard. He speaks rapidly in Ukrainian, reeling off statistics. An accounting system records every drone sortie since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Ukraine's Tactical Gains
Ukraine's new status as a drone superpower and its big data system, Delta, which logs every mission, are key factors. Ukraine staged a small counteroffensive, retaking 12 villages in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk. In April, Russian forces lost more territory than they gained for the first time since 2024.
Captain Oleg Kopan, deputy commander of the 148th brigade, says drones allow precise strikes with fewer casualties. However, he warns that Russia quickly adapts and scales up Ukrainian innovations.
A New Doctrine of War
Brovdi asserts that drones are responsible for 80% of destruction, replacing assault rifles and armor. “A blitzkrieg is now impossible,” he says. “If Russia had a million tanks and tried to seize Kyiv again, it would be the biggest bloodbath in world history. Two million drones would swarm over these tanks and burn them mercilessly.”
He urges NATO to overhaul its armies, as generals trained in an era when “nobody gave a shit about drones” must emulate Ukraine's ecosystem of video footage, photographs, coordinates, and confirmed kills. “Russia won’t stop. Neither we nor you have time.”
Despite successes, Brovdi admits Ukraine is “a long way from victory.” He foresees at best a pause linked to an agreement or geopolitical circumstances, which would only allow Putin to regroup. “He is afflicted with an incurable disease of power and the desire to build a dictatorship. He’s a sick man.”
