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ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE: "Magyar" Leads Shift in Use of Ukrainian Drones on Battlefield [1]
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Date: 2025-06-29
WAR changes many things … very fast. On an individual level, national level and globally as well. Since the February 24, 2022 onset of the current Russo-Ukrainian war, the changes it has wrought have been truly dizzying for the people of both Ukraine and Russia. And of course, the rest of the world. The above caption photos showing the prewar Robert Brovdi, a former civilian, now the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces and how he currently looks is quite telling of such change.
Who would have thought that as the vaunted Russian “2nd Army of the World” rolled its heavy mechanized armor down the 140 mile long highway from Belarus straight for the Ukrainian capital at Kyiv and its governmental jugular that what had hitherto been a toy of amateur hobbyist, quadcopter ”drones”, will evolve at such dizzying speed to become the defining technological feature of the war? And in so doing upend how military strategists and planners all over the world now view modern warfare?
A Ukrainian grain commodities trader, Robert Brovdi, born in the far western city of Uzhhorod in Zakarpattia oblast of the Carpathians bordering Slovakia and Hungary will quickly notice the military potential of these “toys”. It is quite interesting that a man born in a historically fraught region with a melange of still simmering ethnic contestations and sometimes unsure tribal allegiance to the idea of a modern nation called Ukraine, will come to lead the use of this cutting edge technology … in order to keep Ukraine in the fight and even take it deep into the Russian mainland proper. Students of this war know that the intergovernmental relationship between Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary are less than ideal, with the leaders of both Slovakia and Hungary, Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, respectively, being ardent supporters of Vladimir Putin and his revanchist genocidal war on Ukraine.
Such ethnic-fueled shenanigans are lost on Robert Brovdi. Whilst he proudly asserts his ethnicity by his choice of a call sign … “Magyar” … for Hungarian, his devotion to Ukraine’s cause and his mission to use drone technology to cripple Russia’s war machine is unquestioned. In this, he has been relentless. To think it all began when he quickly joined the Ukraine defense forces guarding Kyiv. With his own money he acquired a few drones which he and his platoon, code named “Birds of Magyar” used to monitor the movement of Russian forces as they approached Kyiv. The role of Magyar and his “Birds of Magyar” in stalling the Russian advance, resulting in the infamous “40 mile convoy” outside of Kyiv, quickly gained notice. They soon evolved into a battalion, then a regiment and eventually a full brigade.
With his droll yet colorful commentary, often laced with a few American bad words, videos of Magyar and his birds quickly became a staple of the internet’s insatiable desire to see Russian things be zneszkodili(neutralized) in huge fireballs followed by Magyar’s iconic exclamation of Badaboom Jaga Jaga!! ifunny.co/...
Just before exiting his post as CinC of the Ukrainian army, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi emphasized the critical role of technology in the ongoing war with Russia:
Ukraine can only wage a 'high-tech war of survival' against Russia, Zaluzhnyi says He argues that Ukraine can only successfully wage a "high-tech war of survival" due to limitations in human and economic resources. According to Zaluzhnyi, the only way to achieve victory is by crippling Russia's military and economic ability to continue the war. Zaluzhnyi points to the need for Ukraine to embrace new technologies, like drones, to gain an advantage on the battlefield, even if it requires reorienting their weapons and ammunition production industries. He views technology as having an undeniable superiority over traditional warfare approaches. kyivindependent.com/....
Ukraine has taken Zaluzhnyi’s words to heart and with effective use of technology and fighting smarts has fought the Russians to a frazzle all along the now 1,200 km battle trace, while striking deep into the Russian mainland itself to cripple Russia’s economic and war-making assets.. Hard as they might try the Russians have not been able to add much to the initial 18% of Ukrainian land they took in their 2022 blitzkrieg. For the extra 1% or 2% of territory they have gained since 2022, Russia has lost well over 1 million soldiers in casualties as well as much of their pre-war “super power” capacity. A paltry return at such an extraordinary cost. And it keeps getting worse for the Russians as their economy is now teetering on the brink of collapse.
It is quite remarkable what Ukraine has managed to do. News of Russian’s inability to make deep penetrations of Ukraine’s defenses at such high costs have become a daily feature. Why? Because essentially in the tactical land-based fighting Ukraine has pushed the fight into a roughly 20 km deep cage match all along the battle trace from which neither side has been able to make any sizable gain:
Ukraine’s frontline is now not only long but wide, saturated with drones on both sides. The threat zone stretches up to 20 km in depth, complicating logistics, rotations, and even forcing equipment to be pulled back over 30 km from the contact line. To reach it, Ukraine is creating a new type of UAV. united24media.com/...
That is the larger picture of where the war is at the moment. But it will not stay this way. Change comes. And any casual observer of Ukrainian CinC Syrksyi’s Facebook in recent months could tell by the regular appearance of Magyar in photos with Syrskyi that the coming change will involve Magyar. And it has:
Robert 'Madyar' Brovdi becomes Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces newsukraine.rbc.ua/...
The new commander has already set to work re-configuring Ukraine’s approach in the use of drones on the battlefield. While drones will still go after the usual Mad Max Russian mechanized assault machines, the emphasis will now be on destroying Russia’s boots on the ground … to make it impossible for any Russian soldier to live if they venture anywhere near Ukrainian defensive lines:
Ukraine's drone pilots are overhauling which Russian targets they think matter most, and tanks have fallen far from the top "We need to stimulate pilots to orient themselves toward destroying personnel," Brovdi, who also founded the Ukrainian marine corps UAV strike unit Magyar Birds, said in the video. Brovdi said the change came from concerns that Ukrainian drone units weren't clearing Russian infantry as quickly as needed, allowing Moscow to accumulate a surplus of troops on the frontline. Now, Ukraine's system has doubled the points a drone pilot can score from eliminating a Russian soldier, from six points to 12 per kill. www.businessinsider.com/...
Additionally with the increasing lethality and operational range of Russian fiber optic drones Ukraine has a need to go on a hunt for Russia’s drone operators including the more experienced ones that Russia has moved farther away out of the immediate confines of the fighting zone. Magyar is already going after them, too:
The recent increase in the number of on line videos showing Ukrainian jet fighters blowing up Russian drone operator hideouts while a drone monitors and transmits the action is a direct result of Magyar’s coordination with the Ukrainian Air Force and intelligence agencies to carry out this hunt. Tallyho!
ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE will continue to make whatever change is needed, even in its most potent technological weapon, to be victorious against Russia.
SLAVA UKRAINI ! PEREMOHA(Victory) !!
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