Default Bail Granted to US, Ukrainian Nationals in NIA's Myanmar Drone Training Case

THE COMMONS VOICE  ·  NEW DELHI  ·  SEPTEMBER 25, 2026

Seven foreign nationals — six Ukrainians and one American — arrested in March 2026 in connection with an alleged drone-warfare training operation linked to ethnic armed groups in Myanmar have been granted default bail by a Delhi court, in stages over the past week.

What They're Accused Of

According to the NIA, the accused illegally entered Myanmar through Mizoram, a protected border state, without valid travel documents, and participated in a pre-arranged training program covering drone warfare, drone assembly, and jamming technology for Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups fighting the country's military junta. The agency has also alleged the accused delivered consignments of drones sourced from Europe to individuals and groups in Mizoram, and that these ethnic armed groups have links to insurgent groups operating in India's northeast.

How Bail Was Actually Granted

American national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke — a self-described "freedom fighter" with a history of involvement in conflicts in Libya and Ukraine — received default bail first, on September 18, on a personal bond and surety of ₹1 lakh each, with conditions requiring him to stay in Delhi and join the investigation whenever summoned. On September 23, the court modified his bail to a straightforward ₹1 lakh cash bond, and separately granted default bail to the six Ukrainian nationals — Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk, and Viktor Kaminskyi — on a ₹1 lakh cash bond each. The court also formally discharged the Ukrainians under Immigration and Foreigners Act provisions covering unauthorized entry and visa overstay, after the Foreigners Regional Registration Office compounded those offenses with fines of ₹5.5 lakh per person.

Why "Default Bail," And Why It's Not The Same As Leniency

Default bail is a statutory right under Indian law, triggered when investigating agencies fail to file a complete chargesheet within a mandated period — it isn't a judicial call on guilt or innocence. Here, NIA's first chargesheet, filed September 8, covered only Immigration and Foreigners Act violations. The agency told the court that its investigation into the more serious UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) charges — the anti-terror law under which the case was originally registered — was still ongoing, citing the complexity of tracing the drone shipments, and said it may file a supplementary chargesheet later if those charges are established. In other words, the accused weren't cleared of the terror-conspiracy allegations; those charges simply weren't ready to be formally filed within the legal deadline.

What We Could Not Verify

Some accounts of this story reference a training location called "Camp Victoria" and specific criticism from commentators Dhruv Rathee and Pawan Khera linking the bail grants to alleged US diplomatic pressure. We could not independently confirm any of these three details in the sources we reviewed, and have left them out of this report.

Latest Development

The case remains active, with NIA's UAPA investigation ongoing and the possibility of a supplementary chargesheet still open. The Commons Voice will update this article if further charges are filed or if the accused are granted permission to travel abroad.