On June 10, in an evening address, Zelenskyy summed up the first year of the Unmanned Systems Forces. The figure — nearly $40 billion in inflicted losses — immediately became the day's main headline. But behind it lies a more complex picture.
What Actually Happened
On June 11, 2025, on the day the new commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces signed his first order, the Unmanned Systems Forces officially emerged as a formation comprising 12 combat units. At that time, this was an unprecedented step: no army in the world had yet separated unmanned systems into a separate branch of the military.
According to Zelenskyy, the Unmanned Systems Forces allow "achieving goals that were previously either completely unreachable for conventional weapons or extremely difficult to reach and required enormous expenditure of resources". He separately emphasized "midstrikes" — strikes on logistics deep in temporarily occupied territories, which were previously almost impossible to conduct without expensive cruise missiles.
At the same time, on June 11, 2026, Zelenskyy signed Decree No. 485/2026, establishing June 11 annually as the Day of the Unmanned Systems Forces. On the same day, Robert "Madyar" Brovalei was confirmed as commander, having been appointed in early June.
What Madyar Says — and Where the Numbers Diverge
On June 4, a week before the official anniversary, Commander Brovalei published a detailed report on Telegram. According to his data, verified in the Delta system, the Unmanned Systems Forces over 358 days:
- completed 1.65 million combat missions — approximately 5,000 sorties per day;
- struck 350,000 verified unique targets, including 248 air defense units, 817 tanks, 281 MLRS systems, 7,633 Shaheds and Gerans, and 13 aircraft and helicopters;
- inflicted losses of 100,082 occupiers — 53,477 eliminated, 46,605 wounded.
"Every third drone and every third enemy target has been engaged by the Unmanned Systems Forces"
Robert "Madyar" Brovalei, Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, June 4, 2026
At the same time, the Unmanned Systems Forces comprise only about 2% of the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — as BBC previously noted. The asymmetry between numbers and results is one of the key arguments in favor of this model.
The $40 Billion Figure: What It Represents
Analysts from drone-warfare.com, who track the activities of the Unmanned Systems Forces, note that the methodology for calculating losses has not been publicly disclosed. Most likely, this refers to the cost of replacing equipment at the prices of new Western analogues — not Russia's actual expenditure on purchases or real economic damage. None of the reported indicators have been verified by independent sources.
This does not mean the figure is false — but comparing it to actual losses in Russia's budget without a methodology is incorrect. For context: in just five months of 2026, the Unmanned Systems Forces report the destruction of 174 Russian air defense systems worth a total of $5.4 billion — and this figure is more specific because it is tied to identified pieces of equipment with known market value.
Why This Matters Now
Publishing the anniversary results is not just PR. Russia, in November 2025, formed its own analogue — the Unmanned Systems Forces (VBS), which in itself confirms that the model works and is being copied. At the same time, Zelenskyy announced further expansion of the Unmanned Systems Forces, and Brovalei set a plan for the next year — 200,000 eliminated and wounded occupiers and 650,000 struck targets.
The question is not whether drones are effective — that has already been proven. The question is different: if next year Russia massively saturates the sky with electronic warfare means and new air defense systems, will the Unmanned Systems Forces be able to maintain the current pace — or will the model require a fundamentally new technological breakthrough?
