“Operation to strike Russian targets deep in swamps continues”: Ukrainian Commander Madiar says his unit hits 7,306 Russian troops in first half of October, up 59% on August

The ongoing Ukrainian operation to target Russian forces in remote areas persists, according to Unmanned Systems Forces Commander Robert "Madiar" Brovdi. The Ukrainian drone branch claimed to have killed or wounded 7,306 Russian troops in the first half of October, a 59.45% increase from August's figures and a 24.65% rise from September. The operation continues under challenging weather conditions, with fog, drizzle, and precipitation, despite drone strikes being halted due to a throttled StarShield military package.

The Dobropillia-Pokrovsk axis, in the Azov group zone, saw the highest number of Russian losses within the first two weeks of October, with 3,221 Russian soldiers killed or wounded. This represents a 102% increase from August and 42.5% from September. Brovdi's organization verified these numbers through the Delta video fixation system, which suggests the total count of Russian losses across all Ukrainian forces could be higher.

In October, the drone branch conducted 124,500 combat missions, including strike and reconnaissance operations. They targeted 32,172 Russian targets, with 22.7% of those being military personnel. This translates to approximately 2,298 Russian targets per day. Brovdi noted that such an operational tempo makes the prospect of a front-line lull difficult to reconcile with the scale of Ukrainian drone activity.

The deeper aspects of this campaign have also expanded, with military-industrial and energy sites now targeted far inside Russia. Euromaidan Press reported that the campaign's intensity has grown 1,150% over 2026, indicating a significant escalation in the Ukrainian military's deep-strike operations.