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- They fell far: the sons of the commander of the unmanned forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fled Ukraine
They fell far: the sons of the commander of the unmanned forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fled Ukraine
At least one of the sons of Robert Brovdi, commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine's unmanned systems, with the call sign Magyar, left Ukraine during a period when there was a strict travel ban for men aged 18 to 60. As Izvestia found out, 22-year-old Alain Brovdi first ended up in Poland, and then moved to the Netherlands, where he registered as an individual entrepreneur. Brovdi's other son, 29—year-old Edgar, who is already under mobilization by age, judging by indirect data, may also be in Europe. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
The Brovdi family's Digital Footprint
Robert Brovdy's adult sons, Edgar and Alain, lead a secretive lifestyle: their social networks are closed, and the few photos that appeared on the Internet after the start of their work have been partially deleted. It is possible that this is how the family avoids questions about why the commander's sons left Ukraine, even though they were banned from leaving the country for men aged 18 to 60. However, they failed to completely erase the digital footprint.
Robert Brovdi, with the call sign Magyar, is a former major Ukrainian agrarian businessman. After the start of his military service, he founded the Magyar Birds UAV operator unit, which specializes in aerial reconnaissance and kamikaze drone attacks. In the summer of 2025, Vladimir Zelensky appointed him commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine's unmanned systems.
A number of criminal cases have been initiated against Brovdi in Russia.
The starting point of the searches conducted by Izvestia was Alain Brovdi's Google account, from which, under the initials "A.V.", he left reviews about the places visited. So, in 2023, when the young man was 19 years old, he left a review about the Warsaw car service: "Excellent service, very friendly and helpful staff. If you need to repair your Volkswagen, this is the best place in Warsaw!" Thus, he left Ukraine no later than 2023, when there was a very strict (with almost no exceptions) ban on leaving the country for all men aged 18 to 60 years.
A year later, in 2024, the geography of his movements shifted further to the west. Magyar's son joined the Telegram theme group "Ukrainians in the Netherlands" and also left a review about a driving school in Amsterdam.: "I took an accelerated course to get a driver's license as soon as possible. The school helped me sign up for the exam and plan lessons with the instructor, Saida. <...> An excellent instructor who understands the needs of the students well."
In the same year, 2024, Alain registered in the Dutch trade register as an individual entrepreneur (supporting documents are available to Izvestia). He listed software development as his main activity, and consulting in the field of information technology as an additional activity.
He listed a business center on Diemerhof Street in Diemen, a small town near Amsterdam, as his legal address.
— To register an individual entrepreneur in the Netherlands, you need a personal identification number (BSN). For citizens of non—EU countries, a residence permit or a temporary residence permit is also a prerequisite," a migration lawyer told Izvestia on condition of anonymity.
An interesting detail: despite the fact that Brovdi Sr. was included in the Schengen stop list by Hungary (for being behind the drone attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline), in early 2026 it became known that it was the Netherlands that allowed him to enter its territory, bypassing the current ban. The official reason for the admission, as RIA Novosti reported, was his invitation to consultations within the framework of the international coalition for the development of drones for Ukraine.
The volunteer brothers
Alain's older brother, 29—year-old Edgar Brovdi, and his wife Anastasia also closed their social media pages. However, one of the issues of the Kiev Financial Law College newspaper Studentinform for 2023 says that Edgar and Anastasia are involved in projects initiated and implemented by Edgar's father, in particular, they are engaged in the transportation of drones to Ukraine. The note was accompanied by a picture of Edgar, Alain and Anastasia Brovdi posing with a drone against the background of wind turbines.
Izvestia correspondents have established that the photo was taken at the Jaap Rodenburg II wind farm in the Almere-Pampus area in the Netherlands, and the drone in the hands of young people is a model of a drone from the Dutch manufacturer DeltaQuad.
No other evidence could be found in open sources that Edgar, like his brother, was in Holland, but Izvestia discovered his connection to another European country— Slovakia.
Back in 2016, Edgar became a co—owner of the Slovak company Vegapa s.r.o. The share was transferred to him by Yuri Dovganich, a long-time business partner of Brovdi Sr.: both appeared in the story of the supply of Ukrainian grain to China.
At the end of 2012, the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine (GPZKU) received a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China for $1.5 billion under state guarantees. Under the terms of the agreement, the corporation was to purchase grain from Ukraine and annually supply about 4 million tons to the Chinese company CCEC.
In 2013, Robert Brovdi joined the board of GPZKU, who oversaw this project. However, supplies to China were actually disrupted: the Chinese side received only about 180 thousand tons of grain worth $ 153 million, the rest was sold by the corporation through traders to other countries. Later, China filed a lawsuit against Ukraine in London arbitration.
Among the announced activities of Vegapa is the rental of real estate. In addition, the company issued a permit for geological exploration of geothermal waters in the village of Bolyarov, one of the most promising geothermal zones in Slovakia. At the same time, the company is registered in an ordinary apartment building on Tomashikova Street in Kosice, the second largest city in the country, located just 80 km from the Ukrainian border.
The management of a company in Slovakia, subject to the conditions established by law, can serve as a basis for obtaining a residence permit, but ownership of a share does not create such a basis in itself, experts in the field of migration legislation explained to Izvestia.
Brovdi's business in Ukraine
Despite the close ties with EU countries, the Magyar family's main source of income remains an extensive Ukrainian business. One of the key assets is the Kiev—based Mir Comics store chain, which sells board games, manga, and collectible toys. The Brovdi brothers and their mother Natalia own the company. Over the past two years, the network has consistently shown revenue of about 24 million hryvnias — about 44 million rubles at the current exchange rate.
However, the family's interests are not limited to comics. Brovdi owns other companies in Ukraine, covering a wide variety of fields — from culture to construction and investments. Thus, Magyar himself, his wife Natalia and eldest son Edgar are listed as the founders of the Brovdi Art Foundation, an organization that supports Ukrainian artists and cultural projects.
In addition, Edgar Brovdi owns a large network of charging stations for electric vehicles, TOKA Network, operating throughout Ukraine, as well as an IT platform of the same name through which users access these stations.
The family also has a construction business, Stroyinvest Uzhgorod LLC, operating in Brovdi's native Transcarpathia.
Thus, living in Europe, the commander's family maintains an extensive business empire in Ukraine, covering a wide variety of industries - from toys to energy, while not forgetting to announce urgent drone fees from ordinary Ukrainians.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
