Ukraine’s USFs strike facilities of key Russian drone developer

The Raid unit reported this on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.

According to the report, hits have been confirmed on a temporary deployment point and workshops where the enemy produced and equipped drones, unmanned ground vehicles and electronic warfare assets.

The Bars-Sarmat center (Bars-37) is a volunteer formation with up to brigade-level strength. It is part of Russia’s Unmanned Systems Forces and is one of the key units involved in the development and combat testing of drones, robotic systems, electronic warfare/electronic intelligence systems, as well as command and communication tools.

According to the Raid regiment, Bars-Sarmat is among the most dangerous drone-related structures within the Russian army. It effectively combines special operations personnel with a military-industrial complex facility and a field engineering group under one umbrella.

Russia created Bars-Sarmat in 2024 as part of the so-called Combat Army Reserve of the Country (BARS) – a project aimed at covert mobilization of military specialists launched ahead of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The center’s personnel are not ordinary mobilized troops but professional fighters and technical specialists (programmers, technologists, engineers) motivated to wage war. The center is commanded by Dmitry Rogozin, the so-called “senator from the Zaporizhzhia region,” who served as head of Roscosmos until 2022.

“The strike carried out by Raid operators will reduce the capabilities of Bars-Sarmat in developing technologies that strengthen the enemy’s army,” the regiment noted.

As reported earlier, on the night of April 28, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces struck a storage base of Iskander tactical missile systems in temporarily occupied Crimea.

Photo for illustrative purposes