Serb mercenaries bring Russia’s Ukraine drone war to TikTok

Experts say such content constitutes dangerous propaganda

A Serb mercenary who fought for Russia in Ukraine has been bringing live pictures of Russian drone attacks to his followers on TikTok even as he seeks a plea deal with Bosnian authorities for his own role in the war

The shaky livestream showed a man in military fatigues sitting at a laptop placed on a low table, next to stacks of what appeared to be plastic explosives. Wires dangled from a wall, which was draped in some kind of insulating foil.

“Go ahead Kubanac,” said a man in the bottom righthand corner of the screen, who was hosting the TikTok livestream one November night last year under the account name @dario_ristic_brzii.

Kubanac, meaning “Cuban”, proceeded to assemble and arm what Dario Ristić told the livestream viewers was an FPV drone, a First-Person View unmanned aircraft fitted with a camera that sends a live feed to goggles worn by the operator. Such drones have been used to deadly effect by both sides in the Ukraine war.

“Here we go, live coverage,” said Ristić. Other voices chip in “Kubanac, fire away for your brothers”, and “Let the hunt begin”.

They spoke in Serbian, but Kubanac was fighting for the Russians.

Welcome to TikTok coverage of the war in Ukraine, brought to the more than 10,000 followers of Ristić’s account. A Bosnian Serb, Ristić also fought on the side of the Russians until September last year, when he surrendered to Bosnian authorities. It is illegal in Bosnia to fight in foreign wars.

After a brief period in detention, Ristić is currently confined to the municipality of Modrica in northeastern Bosnia and required to report regularly to the authorities pending a decision by prosecutors as to whether to indict him. The prospect of spending between three and 10 years behind bars has not dimmed his enthusiasm for the war, however.

Since returning to Bosnia, he has hosted several live streams, patching in Serb mercenaries in Ukraine or briefing his followers on developments in the war and how to operate drones.

“I only like killing Nazis,” he said on one of his TikTok appearances, which this reporter joined live.

Experts say such content constitutes dangerous propaganda.

“Such actors function as informal mediators of influence, shaping perceptions, normalising violence, and creating a symbolic framework in which participation in war is portrayed as acceptable or desirable behaviour. It is precisely this gray area between political stance, propaganda and indirect recruitment that poses one of the greatest security risks, as it makes timely institutional response difficult, while at the same time enabling the spread of narratives that undermine the legal order,” said Kenan Hodzić, a senior assistant at the Sarajevo Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies.

Ristić is still doing his bit for the Russian fight, only this time from the comfort of his home in Modrica, against a backdrop depicting Jesus Christ. In the live stream from November, Kubanac did the filming and loaded a drone with what appeared to be an explosive device.

At the request of those tuning in, he wrote on it a “dedication” in Cyrillic that read, “Greetings from the Serbs”. He also wrote the slogan “Kosovo is Serbia”.

A voice is heard saying in Serbian, “I just joined live on my wife’s phone to see Kubanac take someone out, so she can see how it’s done, man.”

Independent defense analysts confirmed that the device shown in the video appears to be an explosive device commonly used on repurposed commercial drones and packed with plastic explosives. They launched the drone, but the laptop screen eventually went blank and Kubanac said the aircraft had fallen in “enemy territory”. He blamed fog.

BIRN has identified Kubanac as Aleksandar Kubatovic, who publicly admitted joining Russian forces in Ukraine in 2023. Believed to be in his forties, Kubatović was reported dead in December by numerous Telegram channels covering the battlefront. BIRN could not independently confirm this.

In the November livestream, he was eventually removed after appearing with a cigarette and a knife. Ristić, as host, said TikTok had issued a warning.

“Explosives are ok, but not smokes,” commented one of the viewers.

At several points during the live stream, Ristić blocked certain people. When asked by one of these accounts whether he planned to return to Russia, Ristic replied. “Yes, of course. I don’t know. It’s absolutely irrelevant whether I’d go or not. Guys, I’m a Russian citizen, so…”

Since the November live stream, Ristić has renamed his TikTok channel “FPV Dron Brzi”, “Brzi” meaning “Fast”. Of late, his posts have contained only drone footage, which he also promotes on accounts of the same name on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.