Call sign Bee: When enemies can’t see you and hardly hear you, you transmit coordinates, adjust artillery - it’s very exciting to fly drone

Author: Olha Moskaliuk

Before the full-scale war, he did compulsory military service in the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade. In April 2022, he was supposed to be demobilized, but Russia changed his plans for life.

At first, he defended Mykolaiv. Then he signed a contract and went to Bakhmut. He was a firing pointer. Then he started flying a Mavic to adjust the artillery. Over time, he switched to drops to destroy the enemy on his own. Now he is in charge of drone crews. His call sign is Bee.

- During my compulsory military service, I received the call sign Humble-bee," he tells me in an interview. -"When I started flying drones, there was a mortar commander in my battalion with the same call sign. We had to distinguish us somehow, so as not to confuse us. So the battalion commander said: "You are still small. You will be called Bee (Pchola). The trend caught on. When I started making drops, all of us knew about me. It was no longer appropriate to change my name to Bee (Bdzhola) (The translation for the word "Bee" in Ukrainian are words "Pchola" and "Bdzhola" but it should be noted that "Pchola" is a Ukrainian dialect for the word "Bdzhola" - ed. note)

- How did you get into compulsory military service?

- I received a draft notice and was asked if I would join the army. My grandfather served, my father and brother served too, so why shouldn't I? And that was it! A week for pack up. They took me to the 79th, which was based in Mykolaiv. To give you an idea, at the beginning of the full-scale war, I had a month left before demobilization.

- What did this beginning of a full-scale war become for you? 

- The guys and I came off guard duty and went to bed. The company commander came running and shouted: "Alert!". We all ran to the armory, took our weapons and protection. Then we went to the point where we were supposed to take up defense. We defended Mykolaiv for two or three weeks. Then we received an order to transfer all conscripts of our brigade to Zhytomyr. We were lined up. The colonel asked: "Who knows how to drive a car?". I raised my hand: "I! I have a license". I said to my friend Mykyta: "Come with me, I'll teach you how to drive." So we stayed in Mykolaiv, and the others were taken away. Then we had a choice: either go to serve compulsory military service in Zhytomyr until the end of martial law, or sign a contract. We chose the second option. We wanted to serve until the end of martial law, but we had to wait a couple of weeks. So we signed for six months. And we immediately went to Bakhmut. 

- Let's get back to Bakhmut. I want to ask you about Mykolaiv. The situation here was extremely difficult at the beginning of the invasion. How did you manage to hold on to the city?

- That's a good question... I think it's because it's not as easy to approach as they expected. Plus, we had the necessary number of military units. That's why we were able to hold back the enemy and prevent them from moving deeper into the city, where they could gain a foothold.

- You were 20 years old at the time. You had never been to war before. How did you react to what was happening?

- We were physically and mentally prepared for a year and a half of military service so well that we took it in stride. War is war. When the APCs arrived in Mykolaiv, we were sitting in a trench. There was a firefight. There were explosions. It was a bit scary then. I remember telling Mykyta in the morning: "We are alive. Let's go back to the barracks".

- What trace did those times leave in your memory? Or was Mykolaiv a "flower" compared to what you saw later in the war? 

- These were very small "flowers" that were just sprouting from the ground. After that, we went through a lot. For us, Mykolaiv was not even a war yet.

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- So, after signing the contract, you went to Bakhmut...

-  As we were told, we would now load, go to the Dnipro, and take turns there. We moved in an echelon. I looked at the map and we were already in Bakhmut. For the first month and a half, we were loading missiles onto "Grads". Then I asked to join the security crew of this combat vehicle. There were three of us there. I, as the youngest, watched from the window to see if an enemy plane was flying. Six months later, we moved to Sloviansk. My commander asked me if I wanted to be a firing pointer of a combat vehicle. I agreed. I started training. We moved away from Sloviansk because cruise missiles flew to our base one morning. Enemy planes bombed everything. We lost a lot of people. I survived by a miracle. As soon as I heard everything exploding, I fell to the floor, crawled to the battalion commander, said I was behind him as a guard, and the infantry was retreating towards us - APCs and tanks. We were moving closer to the enemy. Everything was burning there! You were moving and everything was on fire. Such an adrenaline rush! (smiles. - O.M.).

Later, I was appointed commander of the vehicle. And we were sent to Novomykhailivka, Marinka, Krasnohorivka. This was my first trip as a BM-21 commander. A month later, I went out a couple of times with a contract soldier who flew a Mavic. I watched him observe the enemy and adjust the artillery using a drone. I was fascinated by this. I asked him to teach me. No problem! He gave me the remote control, showed me how to launch the drone, how to fly it. We went to a combat position four times. That's how I started my career as a reconnaissance man (smiles - O.M.).

- Did you enjoy the flight?

- Of course! It was so interesting to watch them when they can't see you and hardly hear you. You transmit coordinates, adjust artillery. It's very exciting!

Then the enemy had a rotation. Probably, they did not get the information that we were standing here, so three of them just went to our village. They went halfway through. We spotted them. I raised the drone. I adjusted the artillery. We fired at them for about three hours. They crawled for about five kilometers without raising their heads. They survived. I was hovering above them at the height of a five-story building. After that, I said to the commander: "Can you send me to the drops? I want to destroy the enemy myself with the help of a drone". I was sent for training at a local training ground. I spent three days there. They told me how to disassemble and assemble ammunition, how to attach a device for dropping it, how to aim and calculate adjustments. And that was it!

I remember the first assault on Novomykhailivka on January 16 last year. I was called at three in the morning. There was a terrible fog then. The Kadyrovites were attacking us - maybe a whole company. We had to walk 50 meters to our positions. I went up. I adjusted the artillery. It was my first combat flight with ammunition. I flew up and dropped it. The enemy rolled over, shouted something. I like it even more. I came back, reloaded again. I was flying, and there are about 12 people attacking us. I throw the first VOG. It flew between two enemies who were walking behind and wounded them. The others who were running forward came back to get them. So I killed in action and injured the enemy. In the evening I came back and told the commander. They gave me ammunition. So everything was off to the races for me. I flew to their positions and destroyed them. Once I set fire to the ammunition they had at the entrance. Everyone ran out of there. I flew up, hovered over them, and as soon as I pressed the button to drop the ammunition, I lost the picture and connection. It was my first lost drone in three months of flying. But I didn't even feel sorry for it, considering how much work it had done. Since the team did not provide us with drones, we were looking for them on our own. I found volunteers, even from Canada, with whom I still communicate, they help.

-  I know that you have your own record - 43 Russians were killed with Mavic in a week. How did it happen? 

- It was during a large-scale assault on Novomykhailivka, its southern side. They started that offensive at ten o'clock on October 10 last year. I received a command to fly there. There was such a war there! I first heard what it was like when GAB fell 20 meters away from you. You look at the house and it is demolished. Ours was destroyed. We climbed out of the ruins, gathered our equipment and ran to another spot. I flew the drone and there were eight pieces of equipment: tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. "Javeliner operators" were working on it. I flew up to their infantry. I hit one of them, then another (I had two VOGs). I could have killed about 10-12 people in a day.

- It turns out to be a hunt.

- Yes. For me, flying a drone is like a video game. I fly, drop, wound, or kill and fly. Back then, I was able to destroy 40-50 enemies in a week, not counting the 300ths, which were even more numerous. It was a craze like a fishing trip (smiles - O.M.) until December. Then I got a partner. There was a certain excitement: he wanted to kill yours, and you wanted to kill his. So you wound the enemy and shout: "Don't touch! Please let me kill him!". Then we started burning the vehicles. We hit it, the crew ran away, leaving the hatches open, and we got inside with high-explosive bombs - the vehicle was on fire. It was beautiful! We could burn five vehicles in a day. Tanks were on fire, as well as infantry fighting vehicles and MT-LBs. 

- I often hear from your colleagues that the enemy has a lot of drones...

- It is now. Let me tell you about one case. Back on August 10 last year, I was flying in Krasnohorivka. The enemy spotted us deploying a drone. Five FPVs flew into our house. It caught fire. We got out of there at night. We had a day's rest. Then we moved into a three-story building. I made a couple of flights. Once I hit an ammunition and fell. My partner shouted: "Everything is on fire!". The drone broke its "legs" (they are called "rays"). We had no spare, so we had to go back home. We walked about 30 meters, and I heard an FPV flying. It was flying by. One explosion, then another. Then two more. I saw five FPVs hit the apartment on the first floor where I was sitting by the window. I was really lucky that we left! 

On August 14, we drove to a five-story building with a damaged nine-story building opposite it. There was also an assault. We heard 152-mm shells falling near us - they were so good. A self-propelled gun hit that house, a shell flew through the apartment, broke through the wall and flew to our floor. I was in the room on the third floor where the equipment was, and my partner was on the left on the stairs. I was wearing armor but for some reason? I took off my helmet. I was holding a remote control. There was a wall in front of me. No sound, no whistle. Just a breeze and an explosion! Dust rose up. The remote flew out of my hands - into nowhere, just disappeared. A fragment hit my head. It was dark in my eyes. I could not see anything. I tried to get up - I barely managed. I could not get out - the door was blocked. I broke it down about the fifth time. I called out to my partner. He answered: "Hey, Bee, I can't see anything!" I thought it was the dust. I was digging him out of the rubble for about 15 minutes. The door fell on him and the electronic panel, and he got an electric shock. Debris got into his eyes. He could not open them because of a bruise. His arms and legs were cut, two ribs were broken. I am trying to drag him to the first floor. Another soldier was coming up from there. I was handing him my partner. Everything was on fire around us. There was no connection, so we could not call for evacuation. This one was bleeding to death. Where to run?! There was shelling. We open the door of the entrance - a shell immediately arrived about five meters away.

"There's a piece of shrapnel there." He poked around in my head with his gloveless fingers, took it out and threw it away. I: "Oh, now there's nothing in my way!". He called for an evacuation. We were taken away. My partner was taken to Dnipro. He's back now, and everything is fine.

- How is your injury?

- My head healed. I was treated for ten days. It was my fifth or sixth post-concussion syndrome, but the most severe.

Then my classmate died, and I was released home. Then they gave me a rotation and I returned when the massive assaults on Novomykhailivka that I told you about began. Before that, I wanted to transfer to the DIU to Roia (Rodion Shovkoshytnyi - O.M.). But in the army it is not so easy. But everything seemed to work out. I just needed the consent of the brigade commander. I was summoned to his deputy because he was on rotation. He asked me why I wanted to go there. I told him about the prospects and conditions. He said: "Okay, let them send me the introduction letter, and we'll sign it." They sent it, but no one signed it. A couple of months passed like that. We were also flying in Novomykhailivka at the time. GABs were flying for us. In January, I told the head of the group about the transfer. He said: "The unit commander said: if you teach other pilots to throw drops and kill like you do, he will let you go." I taught five pilots in a week (smiles - O.M.).  Then the new brigade commander was supposed to let me go, but they decided to send me to study to become an officer. On January 24, I was supposed to go to Zhytomyr for training. On the 23rd, it was my turn to go to the position. We went: the driver, me, my partner and a new person who had just come to the war. The task was to show her how things work. We drove closer to the landing. We had 400 meters to go to unload and walk about a kilometer and a half. And then I had my first close encounter with an FPV during the war - it flew to my door. I have no idea how it didn't kill me or smash the car. The driver's airbag activated. He started screaming. So did his partner. The newbie had eyes pop out. I ordered everyone to get out of the car. There was a clearing. Behind, about 20 meters away, there was a forest. I said: "Run there. I will take the equipment". I took it and ran to them. We were waiting for eight minutes, and the interval between FPV flights was five. I left the guys in the forest and went to check the car. The wheel was flat, the left rear door was smashed. I saw that there was foil. I realized that it was from the drone's battery. The driver ran up and wanted to leave. I: "It's dangerous! He might fly over now." "No, I'm going to the evacuation point, which is lower from us." He got into the car, I closed the front right door. And then the FPV hit the driver. I was thrown into a ditch. The car was on fire. He was screaming. I yelled to jump out of the car because it was moving. He jumped out. The car drove into the river. I run to him. He was screaming: "Bee, I am 200!" I: "Vania, wait! Where are you going?". I turned on the flashlight (it was about three in the morning), and he had no left arm, and his right leg was almost torn off - just meat. He was already calm. I call my partner, who has a walkie-talkie. Both of them came running. How do you do it according to the rules? You use the first aid kit and the wounded man's tourniquet. But when the drone hit, the driver's armor flew apart - everything exploded. I got my last two turnstiles (although there should be four, but I always had two). I told this newbie to put one on his hand. He fell into a stupor. I applied the tourniquet myself. The second one was on his pelvis because his leg was torn. I used the walkie-talkie to call the control observation point and report that we have a heavy "300th". They answered to wait. At this time, a "disposable" (FPV) aircraft was in the sky. It was flying in our direction. We ran back to the forest. Those two ran far away. I found a hole on the edge of the road and laid my head down. Then I realized that the drone had a thermal imager, so it would see me. I looked up and there was no wood nearby. I run into the forest. The drone followed me. I chose four trees with bushes. I sat there and thought: "Not me!". And it glows like a garland: blue-red-blue-red. It flew and fell near the driver. I went there, and then another one flew. It went into the bushes again. So five FPVs fell near Vania. And here came the sixth one. It flew over... 

The evacuation was not coming. It's been an hour or so. I shouted into the walkie-talkie that the driver would soon be "200ths". They came. We dragged the three of us to them. It's about 500 meters away. Vania didn't even make a sound. We loaded him up. I was the senior crew member, so I made the decision. I told my two men: "Let's get in the truck." We're going. A "garland" was flying at us. But it fell down. I was very happy! We arrived at the control observation point. A senior officer ran up. I asked him where the medics were. It turned out they hadn't called them. I asked where they were. And we had very little time because Vania was bleeding to death. We rushed. We didn't reach the evacuation point for about a hundred meters because we didn't know the exact place, so we wandered around the village. There was a soldier from the 72nd Brigade. I asked him to call their medic. He said that another 20 minutes would have been enough for Vania. They brought him to the hospital here. They amputated his arm, stitched up his leg, sent him to Pokrovsk, then to Dnipro, where they amputated his leg. He was in a coma. With such an injury, the chances of survival are generally very low. But he survived! But he lost his arm and leg.

So let me get back to what happened to us after the driver was taken away. The commander calls: "Why didn't you go to the position?". I answered: "The safety of the crew comes first". Moreover, I had to go to training on January 24. So I went. When I came back, I was already assigned to an FPV platoon. Then they took me to the brigade headquarters to manage the Mavic, FPV and bombers' crews. I set the tasks they have to fulfill. I served here for almost three months and realized that my heart was to destroy the enemy with Mavic. I love it! There's no adrenaline like it when you're in control and watching someone else kill the enemy.

- At the beginning of June, Kyiv hosted a presentation of the Unmanned Systems Forces, headed by Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi. Would you like to serve there?

- No. I had the idea to join Roia's unit in August 2023 and I still want to. I need the consent of the brigade commander. And he has changed. I still hope that everything will work out. One of the problems in the army is transfers.

Olha Moskaliuk, Censor.NET

Photos and video are provided by Bee