With their extremely manoeuvrable and elusive drones, they take out twenty to fifty Russians. Per day.
And yet the Magyar Birds – now officially labeled “extremely dangerous” by the Russian media – are not officially part of the Ukrainian military. The brigade is the brainchild of a Ukrainian multimillionaire of Hungarian descent, who largely finances the drones himself.
On Monday, Magyar, as the leader of the platoon calls himself, gave “greetings” to the rest of Ukraine on the Telegram messaging service. From the trenches somewhere behind the front line in Bachmoet he sent his message as he often does.
“Russian media was funny yesterday,” he wrote. “Guys, which of you are now those very dangerous people about whom the orcs (Russian soldiers, ed.) have it?” he asks two men who control a drone with a laptop. “What are you doing?” he asks. “Enclosing an enemy tank,” it sounds. “Boom.”
Robert Brovdy
Every day more videos of drones of the platoon appear on Telegram. For example, they show how they hang above a building and zoom in. The drone drops a grenade, which punches a hole in the roof. Seconds later, a second falls straight through the opening and the building is ablaze. For example, there are several new videos every day from the Magyar Birds of attacks on tanks, weapon depots, boats, shelters and Russians who are surprised in the open field. The latter in particular show how horrific this war is.
Magyar is the code name of Robert Brovdi (47), a former businessman and reportedly dollar millionaire. Immediately after the invasion, he joined the Ukrainian army and fought in Bocha and Irpin. And then he was tired of the trenches. He bought some drones and set up his own platoon. Brovdi belongs to the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. That’s why he named his unit Magyar Birds.
Before the invasion, none of the 30 or so technicians and drone pilots had served in the military. It concerns a colorful collection of people, including a top lawyer, a few top athletes, businessmen and a rock musician. The remarkable thing is that the Magyar Birds do not officially belong to the Ukrainian army and are self-sufficient. The drones are paid for from their own savings and through fundraising.
Conspiracy theories
Magyar has become so important militarily with his operation that he is now a target of Russian military bloggers. That includes conspiracy theories. For example, it is claimed by the influential bloggers that his unit would use poison gas. Or that he has made his fortune through years of fraud – which is not impossible in Ukraine.
Originally, the Magyar Birds only performed reconnaissance flights. Reconnaissance remains the main task: to observe the enemy and to record the positions of Russian tanks, depots and troops. The images and coordinates are put on an electronic map and forwarded. To protect their own troops against attacks by the Russians, but also to provide the Ukrainian artillery with targets. He then decides whether they are worth switching off. A target can be hit in ten minutes. “We are like McDonald’s central register,” Magyar said in an interview. “We provide the information about the ingredients and others get to work with it.”
In the last six months, Magyar has expanded its field of activity considerably. In addition to some 1,500 reconnaissance flights per month, the unit also carries out 300 strikes. For that, Magyar has kamikaze drones – ranging from $300 to $300,000 each – and attack drones. Between twenty and fifty Russian soldiers are eliminated by them every day, Magyar claims.
Enemy number one
He now has three types of drones. The smallest are the terror of Russian soldiers on the ground. They can approach their target almost unnoticed and quickly. A maximum of two minutes elapse between the detection of the enemy and the attack. It only takes fifty seconds for the – handmade – grenade to hit. The medium-sized drones are equipped with mines up to 14 kilos, enough to take out a tank. The largest carry bombs up to six feet long, for the largest targets. Actions are coordinated from a mobile command post not far from the front.
To control the drones, the men from the platoon have to go into the field. They move out in converted minibuses or dirt bikes up to a few kilometers from the enemy to control the drones. It makes their job one of the most dangerous on the front. Especially now that Russia has declared drone pilots enemy number one. “If one is spotted, all hell breaks loose. They pull out all the stops. Artillery, tanks and missile launchers to take them out.”