Brovdi said the dead included the training center’s commander, a lieutenant colonel known by the callsign “Buryi,” whom he identified as a Ph.D. at the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences. He said the number of other casualties was still being clarified.
Brovdi said the operation was carefully planned and coordinated by the Unmanned Systems Forces’ Center for Deep Strike together with Ukraine’s SBU security service.
He said the strike was carried out the night of May 20 using “middle strike” munitions with 100-kilogram warheads. The main two-story complex, covering about 2,484 square meters, housed UAV and warhead assembly as well as personnel quarters. Brovdi said a stockpile of ammunition in the basement detonated and contributed to the facility’s destruction.
The Unmanned Systems Forces said the targeted training
center and UAV assembly shop were established and financed by the Russian
Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences.