The Kremlin offered the reward through post-Soviet criminal groups, the newspaper reported.

WSJ journalist Jillian Kay Melchior, who interviewed Brovdi, said Magyar’s team asked her to turn off location services on her phone and put it in airplane mode during the trip. The device was then placed in a Faraday bag that blocks Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth and GPS signals.

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She was driven to meeting sites in southeastern Ukraine in a vehicle with blacked-out windows so she could not see the route. The Unmanned Systems Forces command always takes similar security precautions when moving around the country, according to the WSJ.

In the interview, Magyar said Ukraine’s small, modern military is now overcoming the old Soviet system that existed in Ukraine. Although Russia has more troops and a stronger economy, Ukraine has made its armed forces more agile by drawing on civilians, said Brovdi, who was a successful international grain trader before the war.

He stressed that the nature of the military threat has changed fundamentally and requires fundamental changes in Western armed forces.

“In Ukraine, a symphony is being perfected, while we are teaching our partners the notes. We could pass that symphony on to them, but they would not be able to appreciate it because they are looking for the ‘best drone.’ Today’s best drone will be obsolete by the time it rolls off sluggish Western production lines,” the Unmanned Systems Forces commander said.

In March 2026, a Russian court sentenced Robert Brovdi, known as Magyar, in absentia to life in prison in a case over a “terrorist attack” related to combat operations in Kursk Oblast.