GENICHESK, March 17. /TASS/. Servicemen from the Russian Defense Ministry's Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies have become elite drone operators, known and feared in the Ukrainian armed forces, Kherson Region Governor Vladimir Saldo said in his birthday greeting message to Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, on whose initiative the Rubicon center was established.

"I wholeheartedly congratulate Russian Defense Minister Andrey Removich Belousov on his birthday! He is distinguished by his careful attention to detail and his desire to personally deal with the situation on the ground. <...> It was on his initiative that the Russian Defense Ministry’s Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies was created. Today, its personnel are rightfully considered the elite among unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators – the enemy is well aware of their capabilities and fears them like the plague," Saldo wrote on Telegram.

He noted that in November 2024, Belousov visited the headquarters of Russia’s battlegroup Dnepr, where he thoroughly familiarized himself with the situation on the front and the experience of using UAVs in the Kherson area.