WSJ: Russia puts $20 million bounty on Ukraine’s top drone commander

Russia has reportedly offered a $20 million bounty for information leading to the whereabouts of Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said Jillian Kay Melchior in an article published by The Wall Street Journal.

Brovdi, who has commanded the Unmanned Systems Forces since June 2025, said Ukraine’s drone units are responsible for approximately one-third of Russian casualties over the past year, despite accounting for just 2.5% of the country’s armed forces.

“The Russians have more men, a stronger economy and a defense-production advantage. Yet ‘a small modern Ukrainian army is winning over the old Soviet system that was in Ukraine,’” Brovdi, 51, told the WSJ.

A former global grain trader, Brovdi has adopted what the newspaper described as a “business-oriented approach” to military operations. He argues that the war is “about math, proper planning, using forces well” and spending “the smallest amount of budget possible.”

According to the report, the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces says the Kremlin has circulated a $20 million reward through post-Soviet criminal networks for information on Brovdi’s whereabouts. Russian courts have also convicted him in absentia on terrorism charges related to Ukrainian military operations and sentenced him to decades in prison.

Due to the security risks, Melchior said she was required to disable location services on her phone, place it in airplane mode and then store it in a Faraday bag designed to block Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth and GPS signals. She was transported to undisclosed locations in southeastern Ukraine in vehicles with blacked-out windows.

The article said Russia has killed 79 members of Brovdi’s unit, Magyar’s Birds, since the beginning of the war. Brovdi said that, by the day of the interview, the Unmanned Systems Forces had killed or wounded 656 Russian troops for every Ukrainian fighter killed.

“I don’t think this exchange rate is good enough,” he said.

Brovdi also outlined his vision for modern warfare, arguing that Western militaries should focus less on developing individual high-end weapons and more on building flexible systems capable of rapidly adapting to battlefield conditions.

“In Ukraine a symphony is being perfected, and to our partners we’re teaching the notes,” he said. “We could give them the symphony, but they couldn’t appreciate it because they’re looking for the best drone.”

“Today’s best drone will be obsolete by the time it rolls off torpid Western production lines,” Brovdi added.

Instead, he advocates creating an integrated military “ecosystem” in which inexpensive, adaptable drones and other technologies can be deployed effectively.

“the task at hand is to build an ecosystem,” he said.

Brovdi also argued that Western militaries could benefit from recruiting civilians with creativity and initiative rather than relying primarily on retraining conventional military personnel.

“To retrain old military personnel is much harder than to recruit this new 2.5% of the army from civilians,” he said.

He suggested that such personnel could function as “a quick reaction force to any challenges that are coming their way during the times while the general army is still being trained.”

By Vafa Guliyeva