Russia’s Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies "Rubicon" claims that it greatly increased the number of Ukrainian targets it struck in March 2026, compared to the previous month, as well as March 2025.
In a release on its Telegram channel, the elite drone unit said that in March, their number of successful strikes exceeded their previous November 2025 record by over 40%, and that they've hit 5.7 times more targets than they did in March 2025.
The website lostarmour, which purports to record successful takedowns of Ukrainian forces, contains 22,000 videos under the Rubicon rubric. While Russia has repeatedly exaggerated its success throughout the full-scale invasion, multiple Ukrainian military personnel have said that Rubicon represents a real and serious threat.
According to Rubicon’s Telegram statement, it took down the following numbers of units last month, with percentages comparing the figures to February 2026.
• UAVs — 1,160 (+121%)
• UGVs — 203 (+55%)
• Radar, Communication, and Surveillance Systems — 603 (+93%)
• Personnel — 219 (+5%)
• Vehicles — 270 (+17%)
• Temporary Deployment Points and Field Fortifications — 433 (+39%)
• Artillery Systems — 67 (+26%)
• Armored Fighting Vehicles — 158 (+125%)
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• Tanks — 13 (+85%)
Rubicon has approximately 5,000 personnel and significant financial resources. Its objectives include disrupting Ukrainian logistics, neutralizing UAV command teams, and training other Russian units.
The group demonstrates “strong political will and significant involvement” of Russian intelligence services in directly organizing this structure. It is capable of executing complex, high-risk, and systematic strikes deep into Ukrainian formations.
LIGA.net reported that Russian military intelligence and the Russian Minister of Defense, Andrey Belousov, are behind the center, according to an officer of Ukrainian defense intelligence with the callsign “Azimut".
Russia is actively recruiting personnel to the unit through incentives and a youth program connected to United Russia, training thousands of 16–17-year-old future drone pilots who will be mobilized at 18.
In the words of Come Back Alive Fund consultant Taras Tymochko, Rubicon “taught the enemy how to fight” with drones.
Still, the unit is not invulnerable. In March, Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said they conducted a series of strikes in occupied Donetsk Oblast, hitting a Rubicon base, reportedly with information fed by underground resistance members.
