Russia offers $20 mln bounty for Ukrainian drone commander "Madyar"
Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Unmanned Systems Forces Robert Brovdi. Photo credit: Facebook / Robert Brovdi (callsign Magyar/ Madyar)
Russia has announced a 20 million US dollar bounty through post-Soviet criminal networks for information leading to the location of Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces.
The Wall Street Journal reported this, according to Rubryka.
"The Unmanned Systems Forces report that the Kremlin offered a 20 million US dollar bounty through post-Soviet criminal networks for information on the whereabouts of Major Brovdi," the report states.
According to the publication, Russian courts found Brovdi "guilty of terrorism" in absentia over Ukrainian military operations and sentenced him to lengthy prison terms.
The WSJ notes that due to the high effectiveness of Ukrainian drones, the Kremlin made "Madyar" one of its primary targets. Facing threats to his life, the Unmanned Systems Forces commander and his subordinates maintain strict security measures.
Brovdi himself attributes the heightened Russian focus to the scale of casualties the Russian army suffers from Ukrainian drone operations.
According to him, the Unmanned Systems Forces make up only 2.5% of the total strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, yet they account for roughly one-third of Russian troop losses over the past year.
The commander also disclosed casualties among service members of the "Madyar's Birds" unit. He stated that Russian forces have killed 79 unit fighters since the start of the full-scale war, with their names engraved on a wall near the command post entrance.
At the same time, according to Brovdi's calculations, for every fallen Unmanned Systems Forces fighter, 656 Russian soldiers are killed or wounded.
"I do not consider this exchange rate good enough," Madyar stated.
Background
As previously reported, Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces Robert "Madyar" Brovdi shared that Ukrainian forces launch most drone attacks directly on the battlefield against Russian military personnel, using the remainder for long-range strikes inside Russian territory.
Reports also noted that during ten weeks of Operation MoLoChKa, Ukrainian forces hit 285 vessels of the Russian shadow fleet in the Azov and Black seas.
