{"id":268477,"date":"2025-07-17T05:13:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T05:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268477\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T05:13:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T05:13:16","slug":"ukrainian-military-leaders-stress-it-would-be-nearly-impossible-to-fight-russia-without-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268477\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian military leaders stress it would be \u2018nearly impossible\u2019 to fight Russia without drones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wiesbaden, Germany
\n CNN
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Ukraine\u2019s military commander in charge of the country\u2019s drone warfare program<\/a> urged the US and NATO countries alike on Wednesday to learn from Kyiv\u2019s use of the technology on the battlefield so in the future there are not \u201chard questions from your children [about] when [their] father will come back.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe paid with lives to get this expertise,\u201d Maj. Robert \u201cMagyar\u201d Brovdi, commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine, said during a panel discussion at the Association of the US Army\u2019s meeting in Wiesbaden, Germany. \u201cBut you can get this expertise out of us, and we will support you the same way you\u2019ve supported us during this war.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Brovdi spoke at the AUSA conference alongside Brig. Gen. Volodymyr Horbatiuk, the deputy chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They repeatedly emphasized the importance of using drones in warfare. <\/strong>Horabiuk said it is \u201cnearly impossible\u201d to conduct the majority of their warfighting functions without drones, listing off examples of their use including for logistics on the battlefield and intercepting aerial threats, as well as striking assets deep inside Russia \u2014 something the world watched in June when Ukraine conducted a large-scale drone attack<\/a> on Russian airbases thousands of miles from the front lines.\n <\/p>\n

\n Brovdi and Horbatiuk\u2019s comments come just two days after President Donald Trump vowed to send more air defenses to Ukraine, making a stark shift in his approach to the war as he has grown increasingly frustrated<\/a> with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid efforts to reach a peace agreement. They also came hours after Russia launched a barrage<\/a> of hundreds of drones towards four key regions in Ukraine, hitting multiple cities including the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.\n <\/p>\n

\n Asked Wednesday what the audience at the conference should know about fighting against the Russians, Horbatiuk answered bluntly, \u201cDon\u2019t trust Russia.\u201d The packed ballroom, full of NATO military and civilian defense industry officials, broke into laughter and applause. \u201cRemember that any agreement with them doesn\u2019t cost even the paper.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

\n Brovdi elaborated further on Wednesday, telling CNN that putting faith in Putin is \u201cnot respectful to yourself.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Brovdi, who has a background in business, was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine in May<\/a> this year. Speaking to CNN on Wednesday through a translator, he told the story of visiting a \u201chuge\u201d NATO military base in Europe roughly a year ago and being asked by his hosts what he thought about the base and its defenses.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI answered the following, that four of my battle crews standing only 10km away from this base can destroy it fully in 15 minutes, it would look like Pearl Harbor during the second World War,\u201d Brovdi said through his translator.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to an official release by the office of the president <\/strong>of Ukraine, Brovdi founded his drone reconnaissance team known as \u201cMagyar\u2019s Birds\u201d in the spring of 2022, which has since grown to a full brigade. Brovdi told CNN on Wednesday that he began using drones because he and his troops, an infantry unit, were fired upon by tanks, artillery, \u201cand we [could] not see anything, who was trying to kill us.\u201d They began using drones for reconnaissance, to see who was firing on their position, and then began buying drones used typically for sports and gaming.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe understood we could put a bit of ammunition on board, and we can deliver it with it,\u201d he said through his translator. \u201cAnd this is how it starts. It was 27 people, nowadays it\u2019s much more than 2,000.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n According to the release from the office of the president, Brovdi and his unit \u2014 95% of which he said were civilians before the war began, including DJs and artists \u2014 had destroyed more than 5,000 enemy targets, and hit more than 10,000 more.\n <\/p>\n

\n Brovdi told the audience at AUSA that this was only his second time leaving the country since the war began in 2022, and that he would be back on the battlefield by Thursday. He dryly quipped that \u201cPutin\u2019s propaganda named me as the most wanted enemy, so it [could] be the last time you see me, here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The two commanders thanked the countries present at the conference for their support of Ukraine and urged allies and partners to learn from Ukraine\u2019s efforts. Horbatiuk expressed \u201cfrom the bottom of [his] heart\u201d the appreciation for support to Ukraine and dedication.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI would like to ask you,\u201d he said in a parting line, \u201cto be more decisive.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wiesbaden, Germany CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Ukraine\u2019s military commander in charge of the country\u2019s drone warfare program urged the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-268477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114866867894290752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}