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Robert Brovdi

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Robert Brovdi
Native name
Бро́вді Ро́берт Йо́сипович
Nickname(s)"Madyar"
Born (1975-08-09) August 9, 1975 (age 49)
Uzhorod, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
AllegianceUkrainian Armed Forces
Service / branch
Years of service2022 – present
RankSenior lieutenant
Unit
Battles / wars
Alma materUzhhorod National University

Robert Yosypovych Brovdi (Ukrainian: Бро́вді Ро́берт Йо́сипович; born 9 August 1975), commonly known by his call sign Madyar (Ukrainian: Мадяр, lit. 'Madyar', 'Hungarian') is a Ukrainian soldier, politician, and businessman who is the founder of the Ukrainian military drone unit "Madyar's Birds"[a] (Ukrainian: Птахи Мадяра).[3][2]

Early life and civilian career

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Robert Brovdi comes from the city of Uzhhorod, in the far west of Ukraine near the border with Hungary, which is the origin of his nickname.[4]

Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brovdi was a successful businessman in the field of agriculture, having headed the Ukrainian Agriculture Exchange.[4][5] He also headed the Zakarpattia regional branch of the public organization Front for Change for some time.[6]

Since the autumn of 2010, he served as director of the corporation Bread Investbud. Brodi assumed as director amidst the drought brought by the 2010 Northern Hemisphere heat waves, and his objective was to double exports in the following season.[7] During his time in this position, he had to defend the company of criticism such as favoritism, accusations of it being an monopoly and the secretive nature of its owners, as while 49% of the company was state-owned, the other 51% of its ownership was kept secret.[5][7] Brovdi resigned from the company in 2012.[8]

Brovdi's position in Bread Investibud strained his relations with Front for Change and particularly its leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk due to revelations about the company having links to then-Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin.[6] He was completely expelled from Front for Change in April 2015, with local media reporting that his actions had led to the collapse of public support for the organization in his native Zakarpattia region.[9]

In January 2019, a bag of grenades was thrown into the backyard of Brovdi's father's house in the Storozhnytsia district of Uzhhorod. Police opened an investigation into the attack, but were unable to identify a perpetrator.[10] Early in the morning of February 16, a similar attack occurred, with an unknown person firing a grenade launcher at Brovdi's mother's house. The grenade, fired from a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, pierced the outer wall of the house and several inner walls, eventually stopping in the wall of the bedroom where Brovdi's mother was sleeping. She was not injured.[11]

Military career

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Chevron of the aerial reconnaissance unit "Madyar's Birds"

Shortly before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brovdi joined the Territorial Defence Forces of Ukraine, where he was assigned to the 206th Battalion of the 241st Brigade.[12][13] During the Kyiv offensive, he took part in the evacuation of civilians from Irpin during the battle for the city, and took part in fighting in Bucha and Borodianka.[12][4] In late April, his unit was sent to the frontline in the Kherson area of the southern campaign.[12][4]

After some time, Brovdi decided that he could be doing more with his entrepreneurial skills instead of "sitting in a sodden trench".[4] Against bureaucratic procedure,[12] he raised funds on his own to buy a "fleet of drones", with which he set up the aerial reconnaissance unit "Madyar's Birds". The unit was a part of the 28th Mechanized Brigade from April to August 2022.[4][14] The unit is composed of "a few dozen" pilots, with hundreds of drones.[2] Like much of the Ukrainian army, the drones used by the unit are the Chinese-made civilian DJI Mavics.[15][16] The unit is involved in five primary types of drone reconnaissance: locating enemy forces, patrolling the frontline, artillery spotting, attacks with kamikaze drones, and occasionally dropping explosive devices on enemy soldiers.[12][4]

Madyar's Birds were incorporated into the 59th Motorized Brigade in August 2022,[14] and took part in the battle of Bakhmut[2] until March 2023, when Brovdi said in a video posted to social media that the unit had been ordered to withdraw after "110 days" of fighting.[3]

In April 2023, Brovdi warned that the Chinese government may cut off Ukrainian military access to the Mavic drones, and urged Ukrainian soldiers to be careful with the drones they had.[17]

Chevron of 414th Strike UAV Battalion "Madyar's Birds"

Madyar's Birds often releases videos of their "greatest successes" on the battlefield, which feature Russian soldiers dying, which journalists have described as having "undoubtable propaganda value".[15][18] Brovdi has become a popular figure in Ukraine among "war-watchers" on social media for his "salty analogies and metaphors shrouded in black humor" and "colorful western Ukrainianisms" in his narration of videos he publishes of his unit's activities.[4]

Brovdi was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Ukraine [uk]" by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on 28 August 2023.[19]

The Madyar's Birds unit has been taking part in the fighting in and around Krynky since at least November 2023.[20] On 16 January 2024, Brovdi announced on his Telegram channel that Madyar's Birds had been incorporated into the Ukrainian Marine Corps as the 414th Marine Strike UAV Battalion.[13][21]

Notes

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  1. ^ Sometimes translated as "Birds of Madyar"[1] or "Wings of Madyar".[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "AFU soldiers destroy four ammunition warehouses of Russian army in Soledar in one day. Espreso". Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  2. ^ a b c d The Wings Of Madyar: Ukrainian Drone Unit Tracks Russian Forces Around Bakhmut, 30 December 2022, retrieved 2023-04-24
  3. ^ a b Beaumont, Peter (2023-03-03). "Wagner chief calls on Zelenskiy to abandon 'encircled' Bakhmut". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Luczkiw, Stash (18 March 2023). "OPINION: Ukraine's Avengers: Every Nation Needs Its Superheroes". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b Grytsenko, Oksana (2011-05-12). "Khlib Investbud's top executive defends company - May. 13, 2011". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  6. ^ a b "Роберт Бровді. Майстер хлібного місця @ Закарпаття онлайн" (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  7. ^ a b Reuters (2011-04-27). "Ukraine's controversial Khlib Investbud aims to double grain exports - Apr. 27, 2011". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 2024-11-03. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ "Ukraine: Robert Brovdi retired as the General Director of "Khlib Investbud"". www.apk-inform.com. 2012-05-29. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  9. ^ ""Народний фронт" викине з Закарпатської облради двох депутатів, зокрема "кришу" Івана Волошина Роберта Бровді @ Закарпаття онлайн". Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  10. ^ "Невідомий приніс коробку з гранатами батькам бізнесмена Роберта Бровді на Закарпатті".
  11. ^ "Уночі біля Ужгорода з гранатомета прострілили будинок матері Роберта Бровді (ФОТО)".
  12. ^ a b c d e "Капіталіст на лінії фронту. Історії п'ятьох бізнесменів, які змогли зробити кар'єру в ЗСУ". Forbes (in Ukrainian).
  13. ^ a b "МАДЯР🇺🇦". Telegram. Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  14. ^ a b "МАДЯР🇺🇦". Telegram. Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  15. ^ a b Bakhmut, Richard Spencer (21 January 2023). "Remote fighters: how cheap civilian drones help Ukraine wage war from afar". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  16. ^ "Mundo - O comandante do grupo de reconhecimento aéreo das Forças Armadas da Ucrânia alertou que o exército ucraniano corre o risco de ficar sem drones de fabricação chinesa" (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2023-04-22. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  17. ^ "The Ukrainian Armed Forces may lose DJI drones: "Madyar" warned - "we are one step away from the disappearance of Mavic as a phenomenon"". 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  18. ^ maxportal (2023-01-23). "Ruski vojnici satima umiru u mukama pred publikom: "Oni za nas nisu ljudi!"" (in Croatian). Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  19. ^ "Легендарний аеророзвідник "Мадяр" отримав відзнаку Президента". 28 August 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  20. ^ Axe, David. "80 Seconds From Detection To Destruction: In Krynky, Russian Troops Have Just One Minute Of Safety From Ukraine's Drones". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  21. ^ "Из роты в батальон: "Птахи Мадяра" стали первой отдельной частью БПЛА в составе ВСУ, — Бровди". ФОКУС (in Russian). 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-20.
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