Robert Brovdi, Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces:
Soldiers are ordered to target [Russian] personnel, rather than armour or other equipment, at least 30% of the time. 1/6
Soldiers are ordered to target [Russian] personnel, rather than armour or other equipment, at least 30% of the time. 1/6
“If a battalion has no infantry left, the Russians don’t disband it but throw desk officers to the front. They are the easiest targets, because they can’t fight.” 2/6
Every mission, whether drone strike or electronic-warfare session, is logged and verified by video, then fed into business-intelligence software that Brovdi repurposed from his days as a grain trader. 3/6
The killing is managed closer to the front. Teams operate 3-5km behind the line, overseen only by battle captains back at headquarters. The unit has an ecosystem of 15 interlocking functions, from jamming to surveillance, mine-laying and explosive production. 4/6
It is a concept nato generals have yet to grasp, he says. “When the Americans come—and they come to us like bees to honey—they ask, ‘Which drone is best?’ I tell them the best drone is an ecosystem. For one pilot to make a kill, a whole machine must work behind him.” 5/6
Strict safety protocols keep his unit’s cumulative casualty rate at just 1%. The unmanned-systems forces now extract 400 Russian lives for just one Ukrainian and each kill costs $878 in materiel. 6/6
source: economist.com/europe/2026/03…
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