{"id":212644,"date":"2026-06-04T12:45:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T12:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/meeting-madyar-the-ukrainian-drones-boss-raining-on-putins-parade-ukraine-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T12:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T12:45:46","slug":"meeting-madyar-the-ukrainian-drones-boss-raining-on-putins-parade-ukraine-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/meeting-madyar-the-ukrainian-drones-boss-raining-on-putins-parade-ukraine-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting \u2018Madyar\u2019: the Ukrainian drones boss raining on Putin\u2019s parade | Ukraine – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Zelenskyy, Robert Brovdi is Moscow\u2019s top assassination target owing to his long-range attacks deep within Russia
V<\/span>ladimir Putin has told Russians that victory against Ukraine<\/a> is inevitable. But on Saturday no tanks or missiles will rumble over the cobbles of Moscow\u2019s Red Square. For the first time in almost 20 years the annual celebration of the allies\u2019 victory over Nazi Germany will take place without military hardware. The reason: the Kremlin is afraid of a Ukrainian attack.
The man who has arguably done more to spook the Putin regime this weekend than anyone else is Robert Brovdi<\/a>, the head of a Ukrainian military drone unit, Madyar\u2019s Birds<\/a>, named after his call sign. In recent months it has carried out a series of long-range strikes against targets deep within Russia, including ports, oil refineries and missile factories.
Brovdi acknowledges that a \u201csymbolic\u201d attack on Red Square would generate headlines around the world but says Ukraine will probably deliver a \u201cslap in the face\u201d where Russia\u2019s air defences are weaker. \u201cWhy waste drones on the \u2018great wall\u2019,\u201d he said, referring to the enhanced security around Moscow. \u201cIf you hit the energy sector or military that\u2019s the best strike, on the periphery.\u201d
Crippling attacks from Brovdi\u2019s elite 414th brigade have presented a huge challenge to the Kremlin\u2019s war. The unit\u2019s long-range drones have been knocking out enemy air defence systems more quickly than Moscow can rebuild them and, suddenly, everywhere within a 1,250 mile (2,000km) radius of Brovdi\u2019s bunker looks vulnerable, including Putin\u2019s palaces.
Ukrainian drones last month hit the Black Sea oil terminal at Tuapse four times in two weeks<\/a>. \u201cPractically everything there has burned,\u201d Brovdi says. There were similar hits<\/a> on the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga. Drones even flew to the Urals<\/a>, hitting an oil refinery in Perm and fighter jets in Chelyabinsk<\/a>, 1,050 miles from the frontline.
Smouldering infrastructure and dark oil-drenched clouds point the way to a Ukrainian victory, Brovdi suggests, by crashing Russia\u2019s economy so it can no longer fund its costly war. Putin spends 40% of his $530bn annual budget on the military and Brovdi estimates that 100m tonnes of Russian oil, worth $100bn (\u00a373.4bn), is exported each year from ports within range of his drones.
Brovdi also points to the Russian military\u2019s casualties from drones; Ukraine claims that for the fifth month in a row the Kremlin has lost more soldiers than it can recruit, putting deaths at 30,000 to 34,000 a month. \u201cThis affects the combat capability of the Russian army, reducing its offensive potential. That is a fact,\u201d he says.
Meeting Brovdi, a former grain trader who last year became head of Ukraine\u2019s newly formed Unmanned Systems Forces, involves elaborate security protocols and a mystery ride in a car with blacked-out windows. After Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he is Russia\u2019s top assassination target. His operations centre is deep underground. A corridor lined with sleeping pods leads to a room filled with computer screens and live video feeds.
Drones hang from the ceiling. There is a library, a painting of a Ukrainian flag by the artist Anatolii Kryvolap<\/a>, and contemporary sculpture. Video loops show the final moments of Russian soldiers and the grisly aftermath of explosions. Each death is filmed and verified, some of which are compiled into a reel for social media. (The clips, which might strike some as distasteful, are popular online and humiliating for Russia\u2019s military.) An electronic table itemises enemy losses \u2013 personnel, armoured vehicles, radar systems \u2013 in real time.
Brovdi sits on a sofa in a small private office, smoking and offering cups of tea. Next to him, goldfish wriggle in a tank. Once clean shaven and dressed in a suit, he wears a green military uniform and sports a long, priest-like beard. He speaks in Ukrainian, reeling off statistics at high speed. An accounting system means he has a record of every drone sortie, going back to the first day of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in early 2022.
Several factors appear to explain Russia\u2019s recent panic, and the growing mood of optimism within Ukraine\u2019s armed forces. One is the latter\u2019s new status as a drone superpower. Its counter-drone technology is being exported to Gulf states<\/a>, who came under attack from Iran in response to US-Israeli strikes. Another is big data. A situational awareness system, Delta, logs every mission, including failures. Brovdi says he receives 12-15 terabytes of raw video footage every day.
Ukraine is also making tactical gains. Earlier this year it staged a small counteroffensive, taking back 12 villages in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. In April, Russian forces lost more territory than they gained, for the first time since 2024, according to the Institute for the Study of War<\/a>.
\u201cOur troops are advancing and liberating our territories. The enemy suffers heavy losses. They are not doing very well in replenishing them,\u201d says Capt Oleg Kopan, the deputy commander of the artillery reconnaissance division of the 148th brigade.
The brigade\u2019s battlefield drone pilots live in a dugout hidden beneath a tree line. Inside are computers, camp beds and supplies of food and water. Every few hours they emerge to launch a Leleka reconnaissance drone, flung into the air with a catapult. Its camera offers a panoramic view of shell-pitted yellow fields and Russian trenches. There are periodic grey puffs of smoke from Ukrainian artillery strikes.
Kopan says Ukraine\u2019s recent advances are \u201c100%\u201d down to rapidly evolving unmanned technology. \u201cDrones allow us to inflict precise damage with fewer personnel casualties and greater efficiency,\u201d he says. The Russians were also adapting. \u201cThey\u2019re very good at observing what we\u2019re doing, copying it from us and scaling it up quickly. They have factories and people,\u201d he adds.
In Brovdi\u2019s view, Ukraine has pioneered a \u201cnew doctrine of war\u201d. Drones are responsible for 80% of destruction, he says, supplanting assault rifles and armour. \u201cA blitzkrieg is now impossible. If Russia had a million tanks and tried to seize Kyiv again, it would be the biggest bloodbath in world history,\u201d he says. \u201cTwo million drones would swarm over these tanks and burn them mercilessly.\u201d
He adds that Nato countries have not yet fully grasped that they need to overhaul their armies. The generals in charge received their military training when \u201cnobody gave a shit about drones\u201d, he says. They need to emulate Ukraine\u2019s example by setting up an ecosystem that marries video footage, photographs, coordinates and confirmed kills, he says. \u201cRussia won\u2019t stop. Neither we nor you have time.\u201d
But despite successes, Ukraine is \u201ca long way from victory\u201d, he admits. \u201cI\u2019m under no illusions whatsoever an end to the war is possible in the near future. If anything, we\u2019re talking about a pause linked to some sort of agreement, or to geopolitical circumstances.\u201d
\u201cThe pause will merely give Putin the chance to regroup. He is afflicted with an incurable disease of power and the desire to build a dictatorship. He\u2019s a sick man.\u201d<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After Zelenskyy, Robert Brovdi is Moscow\u2019s top assassination target owing to his long-range attacks deep within RussiaVladimir Putin has told Russians that victory against Ukraine is inevitable. But on Saturday no tanks or missiles will rumble over the cobbles of Moscow\u2019s Red Square. For the first time in almost 20 years the annual celebration of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":212645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}