WSJ: Russia offers $20 million reward for capture of Ukrainian drone commander Robert ‘Magyar’ Brovdi

Russian authorities have offered a $20 million reward through criminal networks across the former Soviet Union for information leading to the capture of Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, according to the force itself speaking to The Wall Street Journal. Brovdi told the paper drone forces have caused roughly a third of Russian battlefield casualties over the past year, with his units losing 79 troops while killing or wounding 656 Russians per Ukrainian death.

The threat has pushed Brovdi's team into heavy security measures; the interviewing reporter had to disable phone location services, use a signal-blocking bag, and travel in a car with tinted windows to reach the command center. Brovdi, a former grain trader from Uzhhorod who founded the reconnaissance unit “Magyar's Birds” in 2022, was named Hero of Ukraine in May 2025 before taking his current command a month later.

Russia has sentenced him in absentia to life in prison on 46 charges, including allegations of terrorist attacks causing civilian deaths.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.