Ukrainian drone strike wipes out Russian pilot training school with dozens of soldiers inside
Photo: Unmanned Systems Forces destroyed a Russian pilot training school (Getty Images)
Operators of the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces, together with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), struck a facility belonging to the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences, where UAV pilots were trained, and ammunition was produced, according to the Unmanned Systems Forces.
As a result of the strike, production and repair facilities were destroyed. Four Tigr armored vehicles delivered for repairs were at the facility, and all of them were destroyed. Ammunition stockpiles and components used for drone production were also eliminated.
The head of the school, a lieutenant colonel with the call sign "Buryi," was killed. Total irreversible personnel losses amounted to at least 65 people.
The strike was coordinated by the DeepStrike Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces. According to the unit, destroying such facilities directly undermines the enemy’s ability to train UAV crews, repair armored vehicles, and supply frontline units.
The Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) destroyed a pilot training school of the "russian academy of missile and artillery sciences"!
— Unmanned Systems Forces (@usf_army) May 20, 2026
Operators of the @1usc_army , in coordination with the USF Deep Strike Center, struck a facility used for pilot training and the production of ammo… pic.twitter.com/u7tRRlmzwh
Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces Robert "Madyar" Brovdi revealed details of the operation.
The target was a training and production complex of the 78th Special Purpose Motorized Regiment Sever-Akhmat named after Kadyrov, which operates as part of the 42nd Division. On the night of May 20, the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces carried out 11 planned strikes using middle-strike weapons equipped with 100-kilogram warheads.
The main two-story complex, covering 2,484 square meters, housed UAV and warhead assembly facilities, as well as personnel quarters. The detonation of ammunition stored in the basement intensified the destruction.
"There are three such training centers of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences deployed in the temporarily occupied territories. Two remain. For now," Madyar wrote.
In April 2026 alone, the Unmanned Systems Forces struck 38 enemy air defense systems worth approximately $1.1 billion.
In early April, the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces destroyed four Orion drones worth more than $5 million each, as well as an An-72P maritime patrol aircraft in Crimea.
This month, the unit also struck a Pantsir-S1 system in the Donetsk region, a Tor air defense system in the Luhansk region, and a radar station in the Zaporizhzhia region.
