Ukraine's drone commander wants to cut Crimea off from Russia
Brovdi said Ukraine has cut traffic on a key supply route by more than two-thirds and aims to isolate the peninsula with drone strikes.
- Major Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, reported that drone operations have reduced traffic on the Novorossiya highway by more than two-thirds over the past month, disrupting a critical supply route to Crimea.
- Since taking command in June 2025, Brovdi—known by his call sign 'Madyar'—created his 'Madyar's Birds' unit from scratch, aiming to remove 'the human factor' from warfare through precise data analysis.
- In the first five months of 2026, drone forces killed more than 50,900 Russian servicemen and hit over 176,500 targets, destroying 174 air defense complexes valued at about $5.4 billion.
- Attacks have already forced occupation authorities to implement fuel rationing in Crimea, with Brovdi stating, 'We will isolate Crimea in the near future,' as logistics deteriorate.
- Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said advances in drone technology make isolating Crimea feasible, though rolling back Russian forces will ultimately require a coordinated ground offensive.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Deep in an underground bunker, where screen-covered walls display live data from across the battlefield, the commander of Ukraine's drone force is poring over terabytes of information to plan his next campaign - cutting off Crimea from Russia.
Ukraine has begun implementing its plan to isolate occupied Crimea. The current drone campaign has already disrupted Russian military logistics, especially fuel supplies, but also ammunition. The head of Ukrainian drone units, Robert “Maďar” Brovdi, is confident that within the next month, Ukraine will have most of the access routes to the occupied Crimean peninsula under control.
All bridges connecting the occupied Crimean Peninsula with southern Ukraine have been attacked by drones in just a few days.
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