The war in Ukraine is very much an artillery and drone war. Ukraine as the much smaller invaded nation is putting up an amazing fight as the nation with limited resources. The adaptation of low-cost drones on the battlefield through necessity will be studied and debated for years to come in military colleges worldwide. What Ukraine has implemented as a cost effective means to determine Russian aggression is noteworthy.

In the early days of the invasion, Ukraine was utilising Javelin missiles to destroy Russian tanks. This was reasonably cost effective as a $250k Javelin missile could take out a million dollar main battle tank. But when you start using a $300 – $1000 drone to destroy a main battle tank, well that return on investment got a whole lot better. Sure Russia has been pulling out old tanks from its cold war inventory to throw into battle, these could be older T-62 and T-64 tanks that are cheaper insofar as they have already been paid for.

However, Russia is losing main battle tanks at an alarming rate. These need to be replaced, that is a cost, this is a cost that is becoming harder to justify as the war drags on and losses mount. The cost of Russian main battle tanks, a T-64 is about $1.1 million, T-72 $1.2 million, T-80 $3 million, T-90 $4.5 million based on estimates. Russian tank losses in September 2025 are estimated to be T-64 [274], T-72 [1529], T-80 [1130], and T-90 [168]. That is significant main battle tank losses, losses of armoured fighting vehicles is double that of main battle tanks, that is amazing losses.

So this brings us to Magyar’s Birds, Róbert Bródi known by his call sign as Magyar is the founder of Magyar’s Birds. He was a businessman prior to the invasion in the agricultural field, Bródi was assigned to the 206th Battalion of the 241st Brigade when he joined the Territorial Defence Forces of Ukraine, that is basically the military reserve. Based on Bródi’s entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, he raised funds to purchase a fleet of drones that he set up an aerial reconnaissance unit named Magyar’s Birds. The unit is engaged in reconnaissance and patrolling, kamikaze drones and targeting individual soldiers on the battlefield. I follow Magyar’s Birds on the battlefield through their video releases, great work, keep up the liberation of Ukraine.