Expanded Ukraine Kill Zone Aims For 35,000 Russian Casualties Per Month

The Ukrainian military is taking a methodical, quantitative approach to its defense under its new drone commander, Robert "Magyar" Brovdi.

It has expanded the kill zone near the front so that even rear areas once considered safe are now within striking distance of its drones. He has also set numerical objectives for each of his units, rolling them up to a goal of eliminating as many Russians per month as the Kremlin claims to be deploying - 35,000. The point is to demonstrate that achievement of Putin's goals is impossible and that the cost for continuing to attempt to do so will be increasingly prohibitive. JL

David Kirichenko reports in the Center For European Policy Analysis:

Ukraine’s drone units make up 2% of personnel but account for one-third of Russian casualties. Ukaine's drones aim to kill or wound as many Russian troops as are deployed in Ukraine each month - estimated at 35,000. This can be achieved by creating a deep “kill zone” between the frontline and traditionally safer rear areas, taking a business-like approach to the task by testing different methods, identifying what works, and quickly pivoting to effective solutions. So Kyiv is building a drone wall by developing systems and tactics that have been responsible for holding Ukraine’s front against Russia’s continuing offensives. A layered system of drones uses cheap, scalable technologies to wage asymmetric warfare with the goal of downing anything entering Ukrainian airspace. 

Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, Ukraine’s new drone commander, considered the NATO base at Wiesbaden with a hunter’s eye. Dressed as always in a baseball cap and displaying his trademark grey beard, the 49-year-old laconically estimated that his crews could turn it into another Pearl Harbor in 15 minutes without coming closer than 10km (6 miles).

“I’m not saying this to scare anyone — only to point out that these technologies are now so accessible and cheap,” he told NATO commanders in July.

It was a stark warning from a man whose journey from besuited grain trader to bearded talisman of Ukraine’s defense is a powerful symbol of the way Kyiv has harnessed ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit to hold off a relentless onslaught from one of the biggest armies in the world. NATO is woefully unprepared for similar attacks, he said.

“We’ve already crossed the threshold of 400 drones [attacking Ukraine] per day,” he told the LANDEURO conference. “I don’t know of a single NATO country capable of defending its cities if faced with 200-300 Shaheds every day, seven days a week. Your national security urgently requires a strategic reassessment.”

Brovdi, who started as a conscript, was appointed as commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces in June, capping a remarkable rise. Swashbuckling, plain-spoken and with a controversial past, he is emblematic of a new generation of social media-savvy, nonconformist commanders rising to senior positions as Ukraine’s military attempts to rid itself of the stultifying habits of the Soviet era. 

Ukraine’s drone units make up 2% of personnel but account for one-third of enemy casualties, Brovdi told his audience at the conference in Wiesbaden. His units now focus on hitting the drone operators who have made life so hard for Ukrainians on the frontline. 

More broadly, he says drones must aim to kill or wound as many Russian troops as are deployed in Ukraine each month — a number estimated at 35,000. This can be achieved by creating a deep “kill zone” between the frontline and traditionally safer rear areas.

In February this year, Brovdi’s unit alone claimed 1,309 dead or wounded Russian soldiers, 1,848 in March, 1,804 in April, and 2,221 in May. Videos from many of the attacks were shared on social media.

Kyiv is building a drone wall, he said, by developing the systems and tactics that have been responsible for holding Ukraine’s frontline against Russia’s continuing offensives. A layered system of drones uses cheap, scalable technologies to wage asymmetric warfare with the goal of downing anything entering Ukrainian airspace. 

Brovdi wants each drone unit to take responsibility for an assigned sector of the front so they get to know the terrain and local conditions, rather than shuffling mobile units between hotspots. 

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainians of all backgrounds rushed to join the military, and those who came in with non-traditional backgrounds have proved to be vital to the war effort. Many of the businessmen who have found themselves fighting have had a “stunning career by military standards,” according to Forbes Ukraine.

 

That’s partly due to their business-like approach to the task — testing different methods, identifying what works, and quickly pivoting to effective solutions. This entrepreneurial mindset also enables them to market their successes, attract funding for new supplies, and build social media awareness to aid recruitment.

Prior to the war, Brovdi, who hails from the Western Ukrainian town of Uzhorod, near the Slovak border, was a businessman who worked in construction, industry, and agriculture, including a spell as general director of grain trading company Khlib Investbud. It was at this part state-owned company that he found himself denying links to Ukrainian politicians and Putin.

“Of all the domestic politicians and so-called foreign masters such as Putin, whose names have been mentioned as being linked to us, none have any relation to our company,” he told the Kyiv Post in 2011.

The allegations seem to have done him no harm. In the early days of the full-scale invasion, Brovdi began experimenting with drones in defiance of military regulations, purchasing one with his own money to conduct aerial reconnaissance. 

By June 2022, his videos demonstrating how to attach grenades to modified commercial drones began to get lots of attention. He quickly saw an opportunity and began gathering donations to buy more aircraft. The unit he established, Birds of Magyar, is now perhaps the country’s best-known drone outfit and is judged highly effective by the military command’s points-based system.  

The league table was introduced in August 2024 to reward successful drone operators. Units earn points for destroying enemy equipment, which can then be exchanged for more battlefield supplies through a streamlined procurement platform known as the “Amazon for the military.” 

The system encouraged operators to prioritize high-value targets, meticulously log kills, and continuously refine tactics — an efficiency model that mirrors a business startup. Birds of Magyar, named after Brovdi’s call sign, accounts for 8% of all destroyed Russian armored vehicles. 

“As a commander, Magyar is highly effective,” said Bohdan, a drone pilot from the Unmanned Systems Battalion of 110 Separate Mechanized Brigade. He’s popular because he’s not a “desk” commander, he added. 

“He built a powerful combat unit from scratch, implemented a results-tracking system, taught his fighters to use FPV drones as a primary weapon, and doesn’t shy away from taking responsibility,” Bohdan said. “In fact, 99% of other units have learned from his example.” 

Serhii, also from 110 Separate Mechanized Brigade, agreed. “I’ve met guys from the Birds of Magyar unit, and they are very well-equipped down to the smallest detail,” he said. “Their operations are extremely well-organized.”

The increasing effectiveness of Ukraine’s drone forces hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Russians. In late July, Brovdi hinted on Telegram that Russia had attempted a strike on the leaders of Ukraine’s top drone units during a meeting of commanders of the five elite formations. 

“It was a good decision to appoint a person who knows all the processes and understands how drones work as commander,” said Andrii from 419 Unmanned Systems Battalion. “It’s simple, if the name Magyar’s Birds terrifies our enemies, it means we’re moving in the right direction.”