Ukrainian drone operators from the Madiar’s Birds 414th Regiment of Strike Unmanned Aerial Systems took out 522 Russian soldiers over a 22-day operation in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast.

On 8 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially confirmed the presence of Ukrainian military forces in Belgorod Oblast, marking the first such acknowledgment at the highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than three years ago.

According to the DeepState OSINT project, which maintains an interactive military map, Ukrainian troops have occupied 13 square kilometers of Russian territory near the border village of Demidovka. 

During the 22-day operation into Russia’s rear, Ukrainian Madiar’s Birds drone pilots hit 1,682 Russian targets. 

“The world must understand: the enemy is not invincible. We can strike at any moment—and make it hurt. More to come,” the Madiar’s Birds wrote on social media.

Earlier, Forbes reported that Ukraine is advancing its drone-mothership technology to create true airborne drone carriers. The first reports of Ukrainian mothership drones carrying smaller FPV drones emerged in November 2023.

Ukraine has since demonstrated various drone-mothership designs—some with fixed wings, others with multiple rotors—capable of carrying one, two, four, or six FPV drones.

Due to the complexity of coordinating multiple drones receiving relayed signals from a single mothership, the most effective setup may be a reusable drone mothership paired with one kamikaze drone. The Madiar’s Birds is currently developing this configuration.