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The Interview

Robert Brovdi, Ukraine drone commander: Striking inside Russia

The Interview

BBC

Politics, Government, News

4.3537 Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“When we only had reconnaissance drones, we learned fast. We began attaching warheads to the drones. Grenades, then homemade munitions that we produced ourselves. We would locate the enemy with the drone and drop them on him. Then FPV drones entered our lives. An FPV drone is a one-way, disposable drone. That was when the way of war began to change” In a rare interview, Sarah Rainsford speaks to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, about the rapid evolution of drone warfare and how it is reshaping Russia’s war in Ukraine. Drones are now being used to strike oil facilities and military targets deep inside Russian territory but initially were used just to spot Russian forces. Commander Brovdi was among the first to see their true potential and, as technology advanced, drones began to change everything on the battlefield. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, and Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Sarah Rainsford Producers: Osman Iqbal Editor: Farhana Haider Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Robert Brovdi Credit: Oleksii Samsonov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

0:05.8

Hello, I'm Sarah Rainsford, the BBC's Southern and Eastern Europe correspondent,

0:11.1

and this is the interview from the BBC World Service,

0:14.2

the best conversations coming out of the BBC,

0:17.2

people shaping our world from all over the world.

0:21.7

If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention.

0:26.4

We have never seen a people so united.

0:30.0

Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey.

0:32.7

Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not.

0:36.8

We're more popular than populism.

0:40.5

For this interview, I traveled to a secret command center in eastern Ukraine for a rare

0:45.8

interview with Robert Brovdi. He's the head of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces, all its drone units.

0:53.5

More than four years into Russia's full-scale invasion,

0:56.5

drones have become central to how this war is being fought. They're now used not only on the

1:01.3

front line inside Ukraine, but to strike targets deep inside Russia itself, including energy

1:07.5

infrastructure and military sites. That wasn't always the case.

1:12.5

Robert Brovdi first used drones to spot Russian positions

1:15.5

and then direct strikes on them using artillery units.

1:19.2

But soon, all that changed.

1:23.5

I will tell you when it truly transformed.

1:26.2

When we only had reconnaissance drones, we learned fast.

1:30.3

But reconnaissance drones did not allow us to destroy the enemy directly.

...

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