Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
According to the commander, his unmanned-forces groupings accounts for more than a third of all Russian casualties.
Imagine you are a military commander. You are at war, under fire from enemy forces using drones that drop bombs on you or directly target you before exploding.
Add to that the fact that you can never truly find cover, because other drones are constantly surveying the battlefield, meaning you are always in danger.
Now imagine you have most of a battalion (between 500 and 1,500 soldiers) being hit so hard that there are no infantry troops left in the battalion — but you still need infantry to keep attacking the enemy.
What do you do? Pull back and regroup? Figure out alternative ways to break through enemy lines?
Well, apparently, the Russian army is using a third option: fill your infantry-depleted battalion with desk officers and keep sending them at the enemy.
At least, that is what Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, the top commander of Ukraine’s unmanned forces groupings, says he sees on the battlefield.
They can’t fight
In an interview with The Economist, Brovdi explains that in December, Russian losses reached 388 a day at their peak, which, according to him, is equivalent to the entire assault component of a battalion.
“If a battalion has no infantry left, the Russians don’t disband it but throw desk officers to the front,” Brovdi tells The Economist, before adding:
“They are the easiest targets, because they can’t fight.”
Targeting Russian troops instead of material
Ukraine is waging an intensive campaign against Russian materiel and equipment, targeting air defense systems, artillery units, and most importantly, Russian oil and gas infrastructure in order to cripple the country’s war chest.
That is not what Brovdi’s units are doing, though.
In the interview with The Economist, he explains that his soldiers are ordered to target Russian personnel, not equipment — simply to bleed the Russian army of troops.
According to Brovdi, Ukraine’s wider unmanned forces account for more than a third of all Russian casualties, even though they make up only 2% of the total Ukrainian forces in terms of personnel.
And the Russian losses are staggering.
36-hour record
A week ago, Brovdi posted an update on Facebook, claiming that Ukraine’s unmanned forces had set a new 36-hour record for eliminating Russian troops.
“The USF Birds packed 900+ worms [Russian troops – ed.] in body bags in just a day and a half along a section of the front exactly 100 kilometres long [Rodynske–Huliaipole],” he said.
The force’s press service told Ukrainska Pravda that the figure includes both killed and wounded personnel.
Sources: The Economist, Facebook post from Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, Ukrainska Pravda
