Upon entry, 200,000 Ukrainian hryvnias, the equivalent of 4.000 euros; another payment of 6.000 euros when the first combat mission is carried out; and, if you reach the end of the contract alive, another farewell payment of about 10.000 euros. In addition, each month, a “help” of a maximum of 2,350 euros. These are the benefits of the war drone operator contract offered by one of the most lethal contingents of the Ukrainian army, the 412 Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade, better known for the name it adopted for its particular marketing campaigns: Nemesis Brigade.
This branch of the kyiv army is in a transfer campaign for their ranks. It is not the first, nor the only one. These talent search campaigns show a double feature of the disruptive point that the war in Ukraine has reached four years after its start. On the one hand, the civil and military mix: In the recruitment it does not matter that the candidates are not military, and It is important if you know how to handle a drone above whether one has the proper instruction of the person who wears a uniform. On the other hand, the own and decentralized initiative of outstanding groups of the Ukrainian armed forces, which, in addition to the normal means, procure fighters and material through their own means of attracting soldiers and funds.
In a curious statistic of the drone war published by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, The Nemesis Brigade claims 3,078 targets attacked with its machines in the month of March, of which 778 were destroyed. In his war actions he seems to have specialized in shoot down Russian Geran and Gerber dronesthe weapon adapted from the Iranian Shahed that the Kremlin uses profusely for its bombings in Ukraine: the Nemesis has scored 1,730 of these unmanned aircraft hit since its creation, in June 2025.
Table of objectives achieved by the 412 Nemesis Brigade in a promotional account of the Ukrainian army that encourages competition between its own units / M Defense Ukraine
The Nemesis, modestly founded in the midst of a period of attrition of the Ukrainian defense, while Russia pressed on a spring offensive, is still a growing brigade. Their figures are not yet close to the main robotic warfare unit on the front, the 414 “Birds of Hungary”, which on its resume is close to 34,000 destroyed targets. But it is one of fifteen special unmanned vehicle units competing against each other. There is something Darwinian in that scheme invented in this European war: the team that achieves the best achievements on the battle front accesses better financing, has more fame, hires the best professionals and takes the best drones that gets the high command.
It is not a sporting competition, although it might seem like it: stuck on the front, whoever attracts better means and better soldiers has more chances of survival.
Wounded, women, engineers…
Among the values that the Nemesis Brigade proclaims is a domestic interpretation of efficiency – “Achieving results with the least amount of resources in the shortest time,” they explain in the campaign – and a internal mandate of “candor” which forces its members to report the inefficiency they perceive within the unit.
The Ukrainian Nemesis Brigade reserves image analysis and deciphering positions for Russian signals for the wounded. / 412 SB Nemesis
In their campaign to recruit fighters, they are looking for operators and team commanders for FPV drones, which carry a built-in camera to transmit live images of their attacks or patrols. In addition, they offer places staff instructors, radar operators and so-called “flight engineers” in this sector, who are the ones who prepare the drones and equip these platforms, whether flying, aquatic or terrestrial, with the systems suitable for the mission they are going to perform, whether light or heavy explosives or sensors.
The brigade also offers jobs, directly, without prior passage through the headquarters, to wounded combatants who want to return to the front. Reserve a place for them in image analysis and decryption of signals captured from the Russian enemy. Furthermore, it does boasting gender equality as a company philosophyand also calls for civilian experts who want to join without ceasing to be experts, in exchange for providing technical knowledge.
An incentive is also reserved for recruited civilians and military personnel: 0% mortgages and safe passage to travel abroad of the country and avoid new conscription for a year.
drone line
The private activity of this military unit is part of the new doctrine which the Ukrainian army has named Drone Line. It is a project promoted by the presidency of Volodimir Zelensky in his program of what in kyiv they call “technological war.” Drone Line is the soft way to call the “extermination strip”, which was named as a novelty at the IDEX arms fair in Abu Dhabi 2025. Its official definition describes the network of drones and pilots that aims to “preserve the lives of military personnel through establishment of a no-fly zone where the enemy cannot advance without suffering casualties,” explains the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in the plan.
Russian soldiers set up a drone at an undetermined location on the Ukrainian front. / M defense Russian Federation
The initiative has been officially valid for just over a year. Although there are cases in which this “line of drones” reaches 40 kilometers in width, the average ranges between 10 and 15 kilometers in which a “unified system of drones” operates. use of unmanned systems with two missions: provide air support to the infantry and constantly attack the enemy.
Units participating in this doctrine have a lethality range of 25%: neutralize one in four targetsWhether they are vehicles, mortars, radars, battle tanks, fuel tanks, rival drone bases…
Drone warfare has gone from systematic to systemic in Ukraine. And it has reached the point of creating an Unmanned Systems Force on the Ukrainian side, and a similar unit, and of the same name, on the Russian side. The Ukrainians, in order to detect and destroy any unit approaching your lines and your soldiers; the Russians, with the intention of observe and soften with bombs the positions fkyiv Forts.
The Ukrainian Drone Line initiative has opened up to international funding. The Netherlands has been the State that has put the most money into this route: 682 million eurosaccording to data from the Ukrainian defense, which has allowed a large purchase of drones and explosive charges to prime them.
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