Russian Volunteers Hunt Putin's Forces With Ukrainian Drones

Anti-Kremlin Russian nationals fighting under Ukrainian command are using Ukrainian-supplied drones to strike Russian military forces, with battlefield footage documenting the attacks now circulating publicly, UNITED24 Media reports.

The video marks a notable development in Ukraine’s drone campaign: Russians who have joined anti-Kremlin volunteer formations are now operating the same first-person-view (FPV) systems that have reshaped ground combat across eastern Ukraine, turning them against their own country’s military.

Who the Volunteers Are

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several formations composed of Russian citizens have fought on Ukraine’s side. The most prominent include the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, both of which recruit Russians opposed to the Kremlin’s war and conduct operations under Ukrainian military oversight.

These units have carried out cross-border raids into Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, participated in front-line operations in eastern Ukraine, and publicly released footage of their strikes as part of an information campaign directed at Russian domestic audiences. The Kremlin has designated both groups as terrorist organizations and prosecutes any contact with them under Russian law.

The use of Ukrainian FPV drones by these formations extends their existing tactics into one of the war’s most consequential technologies.

Drone Warfare’s Central Role

FPV drones have become among the most consequential weapons of the Russia-Ukraine war. Valued for their low cost — typically a few hundred dollars per unit — and their precision against armored vehicles, supply lines, and personnel, they have been produced by Ukraine and its volunteer manufacturing network at scale. Russia has developed competing drone programs in parallel.

For Russian anti-Kremlin volunteers to operate these systems against their own country’s forces adds a psychological dimension alongside the military one. The footage, circulated through Telegram channels and international media, is designed to reach Russian audiences who consume alternatives to state media — presenting Russians fighting against the Kremlin’s war rather than alongside it.

A Costly Month for Russian Forces

The drone footage surfaces during a period that Ukrainian and Western officials have described as one of Russia’s most casualty-heavy since the full invasion began. The New York Post reports, citing Ukraine’s General Staff figures, that Russia has lost approximately 43,000 soldiers on the battlefield over the past month — among the highest single-month totals recorded in the conflict.

Russia does not publish casualty figures. Ukrainian estimates are not independently verifiable, though Western defense analysts broadly accept that Russian losses have remained high through sustained offensive operations in the Donetsk direction. Those losses are part of the backdrop against which the volunteer drone campaign is operating.

Ukraine Strikes Russian Rocket Center

The volunteer drone operations follow a separate long-range Ukrainian strike that Reuters reported on Friday: Ukrainian forces struck a Russian rocket center that Kyiv links to a nascent satellite communications network analogous to SpaceX’s Starlink system.

Russia has been working to reduce its battlefield dependence on commercial satellite connectivity following the significant role Starlink played in shaping Ukrainian military coordination. Striking infrastructure tied to that development program extends Ukraine’s campaign beyond the front line and into Russian military-industrial capacity — a pattern that has accelerated through 2025 and into 2026.

For context on related strikes earlier this week, see Ukraine’s Samara Industrial Strike and Russia-Ukraine Drone Strikes on Port and Industrial Targets.

Implications

The psychological logic of the volunteer formations — Russians using Ukrainian weapons against Russian forces — runs counter to a core element of the Kremlin’s domestic narrative: that the war is a “special military operation” against an external adversary, not a conflict that divides Russians themselves.

The Russian government is unlikely to acknowledge the volunteer drone video publicly. State media has consistently avoided coverage that legitimizes anti-Kremlin formations or acknowledges their battlefield presence. But the footage’s circulation through international channels ensures it reaches audiences the Kremlin cannot fully control.

As Russian casualties remain high and Ukraine extends its strike campaign deeper into Russian-held and Russian territory, the appearance of Russian volunteers in active drone operations adds another layer to an already complex conflict. For more on Ukraine’s broader military posture, see Ukraine’s Interceptor Missile Shortage and Ukraine’s Flamingo Missile Strike on an Industrial Site.