On the left bank of Kherson region, three RF UAV units operate – «Delta», «Eskadron» and the 50th Brigade «Varyag».
This is stated in a piece by OSINT researcher Brandon Kelly.
The unit «Delta» was previously relatively small (numbering from a platoon to a company), but is now rapidly expanding its capabilities. In the summer of 2025 «Delta» received signal relays, which allowed it to strike the Kherson–Mykolaiv highway — because of this Ukrainian forces had to cover the road with anti-drone nets. The unit has now gained significantly greater technical capacity, including Zala reconnaissance UAVs, heavy copters «Koschei», Lancet loitering munitions and air-defense drones.
The second formation — «Eskadron» — began as a small group of «Roy» UAV operators, but has now grown into a battalion of unmanned systems. In addition to a significant expansion of weapon types, this unit is known for most readily publishing footage of its own war crimes — deliberate strikes on Ukrainian civilians.
As the researcher notes, the growth of these units is part of the RF Armed Forces’ desire to achieve parity in UAVs with the Ukrainian Defense Forces, which have their own battalions, regiments and brigades of unmanned systems. At the same time, «Delta» and «Eskadron» are subordinate to the RF’s 18th Combined Arms Army. This can lead to shortcomings in their supply, but greatly facilitates interaction with combined-arms formations on the ground.
Separately in this structure stands the 50th Brigade «Varyag», which is directly subordinate to the Supreme Command of the RF Armed Forces.
Kelly believes that its creation is an attempt by Russian General Gerasimov to create his personal analogue of the «Rubin» unit, which is controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The brigade occupies a front sector from Nikopol and Marhanets to Kherson, although some of its subunits are recorded in other sectors as well, including Kharkiv Oblast. In addition to a wide range of UAVs, the brigade also fields ground and surface robotic systems.
The researcher notes that the Russians are currently testing various solutions to the organizational problem of integrating UAVs into their troop structure. Large brigade-level formations have broader capabilities due to the diversity of armaments, but smaller units are better integrated for carrying out tasks in a specific direction.
At the same time, Kelly believes that Ukrainian organizational solutions are currently more effective — in particular, corps-subordinate regiments of unmanned systems in the Armed Forces of Ukraine combine the best of both approaches.