Pilot with call sign Shef: "For about two months, I killed at least 50 Russians every week with payload drops. Their corpses were lying everywhere"
Mykola, call sign Shef, is currently undergoing treatment after being wounded in Donbas in September this year. He is a pilot with the 15th Operational Brigade named after the hero of Ukraine, Lieutenant Bohdan Zavada.
He joined the army in 2019. As part of the National Guard, he served in the Joint Forces Operation but did not take part in hostilities. He saw the full-scale invasion in Zaporizhzhia.
- On February 23, we arrived at our unit, quickly dropped off our belongings, and were released to go home. I had dinner and went to bed," he recalls. "At five in the morning, I woke up to a call from a friend in Nova Kakhovka, someone I had previously served with. He said, 'We’re under fire!' Still half-asleep, I couldn’t comprehend what was happening and dozed off again. Then a call came from the unit: 'Assemble!' I opened the Internet, and every headline read: 'War!' I called a taxi. I could hear explosions in the distance and see planes flying overhead. Yet, it still didn’t feel real. When I arrived at the unit, we weren’t explicitly told that a full-scale war had begun. In the afternoon, we went to pick up ammunition. Near the warehouse, we were unloading boxes of rounds when planes flew overhead, forcing us to scatter. Then came the order: 'Quickly, into the vehicles! Load up there.' At the time, I was a machine gunner. We loaded up in a Varta (an armoured vehicle - O.M.), drove off, and spent the next day and a half moving between various locations. We stopped for the night, and by six the following morning, we had already reached Melitopol. To put it briefly, things got pretty intense there.
- Melitopol was quickly occupied. Tell us what you saw there.
- We had a combat order: to arrive as a unit at an intersection on the outskirts of the city. We were told that a convoy of 50 vehicles was coming, and we had to stop it and get out of there quickly. No matter how (smiles - O.M.). We arrived, and there was not even a single bush to hide behind - only intersections and fields. And we were armed with two grenade launchers, one machine gun and assault rifles. That's it! Nothing more! Luckily, that convoy did not reach us. We would not have been able to stop it.
We drove on and stopped in a forest plantation near the crossroads. The infantry began digging in. My unit received an order to take one vehicle to the first battalion to reinforce them. As we passed through the center of Melitopol, I noticed one of our tanks and a fuel tanker parked nearby. We reached the first battalion, and the commander told us that the fuel tanker had broken down and needed to be towed. When we arrived, the tank was already refueling from it. We decided to tow the fuel tanker for now. One of our guys climbed inside and discovered it was still operational. Turns out, the driver had simply abandoned it and fled. Suddenly, I spotted an armored personnel carrier (APC) approaching us with a white flag raised. I thought the Russians were surrendering. I turned to the tank crew and asked, "Do you have it in your sights?" They confirmed they did. I told my driver, "Let’s go! Stick to the roadside, so we stay out of our tank’s line of fire." The APC started moving toward us. It turned out to be one of ours—the crew had run out of ammunition and was retreating. We talked briefly; I checked their documents and signaled the tank crew to let them pass. The APC moved on, and we returned to the tanker to wait for the refueling to finish. Then, from the same corner the APC had come from, a tank appeared. We couldn’t tell whose it was. It fired and hit our tank, which caught fire. I immediately opened fire with my machine gun. I told my driver, "We’re moving out!" The second shot was aimed at us but missed; the shell ricocheted off the ground and hit a nearby house. We started zigzagging to avoid being an easy target. The third shot was also aimed at us but missed again—luck was on our side! Our tank crew managed to fire back twice, hitting the enemy tank and forcing it to retreat. We returned to the command post and saw all the Ukrainian Armed Forces vehicles leaving Melitopol. One vehicle stopped, and a soldier yelled, "Why are you still here? Get out! We’re almost surrounded!" So, we formed a convoy with the entire battalion and managed to escape through the fields and byroads.
- Where are you headed?
- We arrived at our unit in Zaporizhzhia. There was supposed to be a forming-up - we were waiting for the regimental commander to receive an order. But we did not wait - we went to Orikhiv. We set up a checkpoint.
Nothing particularly interesting happened there. Next, we headed to the village of Chervona Krynytsia to scout for enemy presence. We traveled at night in two groups. Upon arrival, we found some sort of tractor brigade. A watchman came out and told us there were no Russians in the village. We decided to stay there for observation. After five days, we received orders to move to Mala Tokmachka. We set up defensive positions at a brick factory. While the others headed into the building, I decided to rest in the vehicle since I hadn’t slept properly for days. I took off my shoes to relax. Suddenly, I heard a whistle—bang! An explosion. I jumped out barefoot and hit the ground. Another whistle—bang! Another explosion. I ran, looking for cover. Then I heard someone calling me. It was the guys, lying in a small pit. I ran to join them. For the next 45 minutes, we endured heavy shelling from tanks and mortars. Later that evening, we went to sleep in the house, finding places wherever we could. I was in a room with broken windows. It was terribly cold. I decided to join the others in another room near the one with a stove. It was warm! Just as I was about to lie down, the platoon commander said to me, "You’ll take turns with me on the radio set." I agreed, took the radio set, and immediately fell asleep. "I helped," (smiles – O.M.).
For a week, we endured constant shelling, but no assaults. Then a message came over the radio set: "Helicopters are heading your way." We ran to the drying chamber where bricks were made. The helicopters began circling and firing at us. I lay against the wall with my legs stretched out. They fired it with rockets. Luckily, they didn’t break through.
- Some soldiers have told me that aviation is the most terrifying thing in war
- For me, the scariest thing is a tank. I’ve been through it all—I spent a year and two months on the frontlines, worked as an assault trooper, took part in reinforcement missions, and now I’m a pilot.
- You have such an interesting path...
- I was simply thrown from position to position. After two years in those conditions, I started to lose my mind, so to speak...
- Because of everything you witnessed? It’s hard to imagine what you must have endured as an assault trooper
- I wasn’t an assault trooper for long. I suffered a concussion, and after recovering, I was reassigned to a company specializing in fortifications. So, I ended up taking part in two assaults.
- What are your impressions?
- It's both scary and interesting. When it's over, you want more (smiles - O.M.).
- Adrenaline.
- Yes, adrenaline.
-When was the first Russian soldier killed?
- When we were still at the brick factory. The following story happened at one of our positions. A young soldier went to the toilet without taking his assault rifle. An enemy subversive reconnaissance group (SRG) passed by. Fortunately, they did not notice him. From intercepted communications, we realized they were planning to return the next day. That evening, I and three members of the reconnaissance unit were sent to the position. The senior member instructed me: "Go to the post with our two guys now. After your shift, you can rest." I agreed. About an hour later, I put on my tactical headset and overheard the company commander briefing everyone to stay alert. I was listening with delight (smiling - O.M.). Suddenly, one of the guys nudged me: "Someone’s approaching!" I took off the headset and strained to hear—movement from three sides. I set up the machine gun, grabbed a night vision device, and told him: "Go wake the others and get them here." The team arrived quickly, diving into a trench behind me. The recon guys muttered, "Probably just stray cats." I replied, "No, those were definitely people." They didn’t believe me. We stayed on alert. Not long after, we heard coughing. My shift ended, so I briefed the next team: "We heard people approaching and even coughing." Then, I went to rest. At 5 a.m., I woke up. A recon teammate and I sat down for coffee. For some reason, I felt the urge to gear up. He too. Then we heard shouts: "You are surrounded! Surrender!" We didn’t understand what was happening. The shooting started. We dropped to the ground. I didn’t have my rifle. The machine gun was left at the position. I lay there, bullets flying over my head, landing nearby. I thought to myself: once the firefight ends, I’ll run to grab my machine gun. A reconnaissance soldier moved in short bursts, observing what was happening. I raised my head and saw two rifles hanging from a tree. Aha! I grabbed one. Suddenly, a sniper from the recon team ran up to me. Not far from him, there was his rifle. What was the point of it if you couldn’t see anything?! I grabbed the second rifle and gave it to him. I realized I needed to fire in the direction of the sound so they wouldn’t capture us. I took a shot, but the rifle jammed. I tried to fix it. The shooting continued. Bullets were landing near me. At that moment, one of the guys from the dugout waved at me. I ran over there. I disassembled the rifle – there were no "signs of life" at all. I thought: I have two grenades, just in case. I ran out and lay back down where I was earlier. The guy from the reconnaissance team, with whom I had coffee, ran up and put a machine gun in front of me. Not mine, though. Fine! Then the firefight ended. The sniper said, "Run to the right flank, where there’s a pit. Sit there. Can you do it?" No problem! I ran over there. I took up defense. I couldn’t see anything. Well, fine. If I saw something, I’d shoot. I lit a cigarette. My hands were shaking a little. As soon as I finished, the shooting started again. I fired bursts toward the sound. The Russians heard the machine gun and started to retreat, shooting back. I kept firing at them. I killed one blindly. The contact ended – the Russians fled. From the intercepts, we heard that one of them was wounded, crawled one and a half kilometers, and died.
- So what happened before the shooting?
- The guys who were on the post went to see what was happening in the other forest plantation. And there were already Russians sitting there - the ones who came to us. That's why the whole story came out.
- Under what circumstances did you realize that it was difficult for you to cope with what was happening around you?
- This is about two years after the events I described to you. For some time, there was a situation like this: I came back from the position, rested for a day, and the commander sent me back there again. I was tired both physically and mentally. So, as I said, I started to lose my mind a little bit.
- Is that why they started flying? Or why did you become interested in UAVs in the first place?
- When I was constantly being sent to the front line, the Russians captured the position one block away from ours — they approached when it was foggy, took eight of our men prisoner, stripped them naked, and shot them... The battalion that was stationed there received an order to retake the position. They sent in assault troops. It took a while, but they eventually managed to recapture it. Afterward, reinforcement entered there. The assault troops started to withdraw, but they came under heavy fire. I received a command over the radio set: 'Run and get them!' I said: 'I have a small dugout, two by two and a half meters. There are already five of us here. There are about 15 stormtroopers, and I have no place to put them.' The reply was: 'Even if you stack them, take them! There are already WIA.' I ran to the position — there was no one there. I came back, and they were hiding in all the pits around my position. Before the full-scale war, the International Training Centre had trained us well in medicine, so I began providing first aid to the wounded. Then they were evacuated. After that, we were shelled and assaulted a couple more times. I was in this mode for two or three months. One day, I arrived at the base, where I was about to be sent on leave, and went to sleep. At night, a guy woke me up: 'Let's go for an evacuation!' A shell had landed right in the trench with the guys. We arrived there in an MT-LB. Two guys started loading us with assault rifles. I said: 'First, the wounded!' We dragged one in, and the other one climbed in himself. We went for the third one, who was very heavy. We managed to take him away. They said, 'There’s one more!' We rushed over to him. A guy was trying to help a wounded man, but he was missing one arm. The wounded man showed no signs of life. I checked his pulse — there was none. I tried to revive him — but couldn’t. Heavy shelling started — the Russians had heard the vehicles arriving. We climbed into the MT-LB and drove off. I saw the seriously wounded man we had barely managed to bring in, choking to death. I placed his head on my lap and provided assistance. I revived him four times — each time he stopped breathing and then started again. But in the end, he died in my arms..."
After all that, it became difficult for me. I told the commander, "Send me for rest, because I can’t take it anymore!" The next day, I went on leave. After returning, I asked when I would be going to the position. They said about five days later. Fine! But in the evening, I was told I had to go right away. I had to walk six kilometers across open terrain, carrying everything – machine gun, ammo, food, water. Two of our companies assigned a few people each. We got a "health team" – "retirees". So, we stopped every 200 meters. One had a knee problem, another something else. I had to carry not only my own stuff but also theirs. They had packed everything (smiles). We were supposed to reach the position by nightfall. But because of this "team", we only got there by 7 AM. There were small bunkers. No communication. Luckily, we were with soldiers from the 138th Reconnaissance Regiment, with whom I had worked before. Since I was the senior in the group, I had to make a decision: stay under the command of the 138th regiment or withdraw, as there was no communication with our own. I decided to stay. The positions there were awful – there were so many Russian bodies around. The whole forest plantation was scattered with them. A pretty grim picture. To our right was the 14th brigade. The Russians started attacking them – they shelled them so much that the guys ran out of bunkers. After about four days, we were warned that we would be stormed at night. Our position reported hearing voices about 400 meters away. I suggested to the guys from the 138th regiment, "Launch a drone, see what’s there." They replied that they didn’t have a night drone. But we got lucky – they didn’t attack that night. The next night, the same warning came. The story repeated. By that time, we had been out of food for a couple of days. I informed them that I would be withdrawing with my guys in the morning. They brought us water and dry rations. We opened them, but they were spoiled. We didn’t eat them. In the morning, reconnaissance soldiers from my brigade arrived. They gave us two Swedish ration packs. We stretched one for two days. There were about 300 mice in the bunker! I spent the whole night on the radio set, guarding the food from them. However, they still gnawed seven holes in my backpack (smiles). In the morning, I opened the ration pack, and it was also gnawed. We threw away the chewed parts and ate what was left, three of us. Eventually, we were left without food, water, or communication with our own. A guy from the 138th regiment was going to another position to deliver a battery. I asked him to take one of mine so we could leave together. They went back together – there was an explosive payload drop on them. Both were "wounded". I dragged them into the bunker and provided first aid. So, what could we do? We couldn’t leave the wounded behind! One of them got hit in the cheek and lost his teeth. The whole bunker was flooded with his blood. Then, he vomited. And from there, there was nowhere to go – we covered them with a tarp and slept like that. We spent another two days sitting there. The commander of the 138th regiment said they would replace us.
In the morning, the guide came. I asked him which way to go so I could set off with two wounded soldiers and a guy from the third company, while the rest would catch up later. He pointed the way. Whether he pointed wrong or I misunderstood, we got lost. So, we started looking for the way. We went in one direction, and as it turned out later, we were just 200 meters from the Russians (smiles – O.M.), but for some reason, we turned around and went the other way. And we had no communication. We had to figure out a way to get it. Then our radio set suddenly came alive—the guide heard me. I asked him to fire a shot into the sky so we could find them. He fired a couple of times, but we couldn’t hear anything. Then we lost contact again. We entered a grove and found some other guys (I don’t remember which brigade they were from) who were also out of contact. They gave me our location. I started running around, trying to find a spot where the radio set would work. Eventually, I found it and gave them the coordinates. They told us to move higher up, and they would meet us. So we headed up and came across some positions I had been to before. A guy from my company came out, and then I knew what was going on. We reached the point where a vehicle picked us up. When we got back, I told them it was hard for me to handle situations like that. They put me on radio set duty. A month later, they offered me to become a drone operator. I was sent to Odesa for a couple of weeks of training.
- You have worked with other types of weapons. How did you become familiar with the drone?
- I was trained on FPV, but at the school, I had only 15 minutes of flight time. I returned to the front and started traveling with the FPV operators to see how things worked. Initially, my task was to deploy drones, attach shells, and stand guard. We spent two or three weeks with them. And when we were back "at home," I practiced flying. Later, an additional position opened up with the Mavic operators, and they were short on people. I was sent to them with the same tasks. I spent about a month with them, but I continued practicing FPV flying. Just as I became proficient, the commander said to me: "Try flying a Mavic." I tried it once, and it worked out. For the next position, I went in as a Mavic pilot.
- How were you injured?
- We had been in the Zaporizhzhia area for two years. And then, at the end of the summer, we were sent to the Donetsk region. At first, we just went to the positions for aerial reconnaissance. Then we were stationed in a village near the town of Selydove. There were only a few of our positions there, plus a mine. But the Russians occupied a large "stronghold" - a system of trenches, concrete pillboxes. We dropped explosive payloads and managed to kill them one by one. But there were a lot of them running around - hundreds of them! We were overwhelmed by the number. They started to make their way to the mine. For several days, they did not succeed. They came from the other side. And there was a brigade that we had to cover, for which we allocated three crews of pilots. We were flying in a carousel - covering our guys, finding Russians trying to advance, and attacking them. But they found underground communications and still got into this mine. I hear the guys shouting that they have been entered, and the connection with them is lost. Then we got only one out of there with drones. This also happens...
"In the morning, my position was withdrawn, and the guys stayed for another two days. But they were also withdrawn, when the Russians were about 300 meters away. I’ve never seen anything like what happened when the enemy took the village. It was like an anthill! I watched them rush into a house. They were hit by artillery – bodies were scattered all over the street. There were wounded too, waving for help. But other Russians just stepped over them, ignoring them completely, as they followed their orders. They were just sent to be "meat." We still had positions in the village. From an intercepted message, we heard: "Whoever takes this position will get an extra ten days of leave." After that, they started launching constant assaults, every day from morning until night! I don’t know how our guys managed to hold out for more than a week. We also tried hard to keep the enemy from getting close to that position – using drone drops and artillery to hold them back. The few who did manage to reach it were either captured or killed. But eventually, the position was withdrawn.
We came closer to Selydove, where there were old buildings and forest plantations.It was much easier for us to work with drones there. For about two months, I was killing at least 50 Russians each week with payload drops. The situation was horrific! Their corpses were scattered everywhere. One trench was entirely filled with them. But they just kept coming, and we kept hitting them. I even started to enjoy it a little (smiles – O.M.).Even though the workload was heavy – 18 hours of flying, 6 hours of rest, and repeating the cycle – the adrenaline kept us going. For example, I’d be flying at night, and I’d notice a bush that looked suspicious, like a big black spot. I contacted HQ: "I’ll check it out and drop something." They’d give the green light. I’d attach two VOGs, drop one nearby, and the other right in the middle. Boom! Then, you'd see the Russians start wriggling around like snakes. Got it! I’d reload with two more VOGs, drop them again – five WIA. They tried crawling away, but I finished them off.
Then I was wounded. It happened on 20 September. I had been flying at night, and in the morning I was supposed to help retrieve the drone. They were supposed to bring us food and ammo. They said over the radio set: "Come out to meet us." I went. We were staying in a basement in a private sector. I stood by the gate. I heard the "launch" of a Grad rocket. It didn't seem to be aimed at us, but I decided to go inside the yard just in case. I heard the whistle, then the explosion. I fell down. I tried to get up, but fell again. I crawled. I shouted for my friends to come. One of them came out and helped me into the basement. As it turned out, the shell had fallen just five meters away from me. I was lucky it ricocheted. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have survived...
- What are your injuries?
- From the feet to the back of the head, he is cut by shrapnel.
- How were you evacuated?
- At first, the guys started providing assistance on the spot. The "box" that was supposed to deliver provisions and ammo had just arrived. They said, "Hurry up so we can take it back." They bandaged me up. I was thinking: I only heard two Grad launches, but a full salvo is 40 rockets, so the rest might be incoming. But nothing else came. They pulled me into the vehicle and drove me out. We waited for the medical workers, but for some reason, they took a long time to arrive. When they did, they gave me pain relief. Then they took me to the stabilization point in Pokrovsk. There, they removed 12 pieces of shrapnel and sent me to Dnipro. From there, I was transferred to Vinnytsia, then to Kropyvnytskyi, and finally to Zaporizhzhia.
- Did they pull out debris everywhere? Did they perform operations?
- No. In Vinnytsia, they promised to remove the fragments. However, they discovered that my sciatic nerve had been injured. I didn’t know this because I couldn’t walk for 20 days. When I finally managed to get into a wheelchair so my wife could take me outside for a walk, I started to feel it. I was discharged and transferred to Kropyvnytskyi, where they said they didn’t have the equipment to remove the fragments. They just did bandaging. One day, a nurse asked, "What’s that black thing sticking out?" It turned out to be a sizable fragment in my foot—about one and a half by two centimeters. She pulled it out, and the doctor wrote in the record that they had performed an operation (smiles - O.M.). They let me go home for the weekend to see my family, who had come to visit me. I was sitting in the car when I felt something bothering me in my back. I told my wife, "Take a look at what’s there." It turned out a fragment had started to come out on its own. We went to run some errands and then stopped by the hospital. The nurse said there were no doctors available, and she wouldn’t remove it without them. That was fine. We went back home. But the fragment was bothering me—I couldn’t sleep. So my wife pulled it out with tweezers (smiles - O.M.).
In fact, in Kropyvnytskyi, they wanted to send me on furlough for MMC. But since I’m with the National Guard, this can only be arranged through the Ministry of Internal Affairs. So I went to Zaporizhzhia, and that’s how I got home. You know, getting shrapnel removed is such a complicated process! You need to visit the surgeon, then go to the hospital and arrange for the surgery, return to the surgeon, get some document, go to the doctors who prepare a report and submit it to your unit, then go back to the surgeon to get permission for the operation. That’s how they managed to remove two more fragments from my arm. But I have a damaged nerve that radiates pain to my leg and hurts a lot. I went to a neurologist and was admitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs hospital. I stayed there for ten days. The treatment wasn’t completed because I had to undergo surgery on the 12th. So they discharged me. They operated on my arm, but the nerves still needed to be examined to determine their condition. It’s a complex and painful procedure, and there’s a long waiting list. My appointment is scheduled for the 10th of December (we’re recording this interview on the 27th of November - O.M.). I’m sitting at home, waiting. However, I received a discharge note from the traumatologist and was immediately sent back to duty.
- How did it happen?
- Because I had seen many doctors, no one wrote to me that I needed to undergo MMC. But the doctors told me to wait until the tenth. We will do the procedure and see what the neurologists say. Then we'll see what's next.
- Do you want to go back to the front?
- But what can I do? It’s tough, it’s exhausting. I’m tired. But there’s no other choice. And I want to go back because the guys are out there fighting while I’m sitting at home.
- Do you think about when it might end?
- I don't think it will end as long as Putin is in power.
Olha Moskaliuk, Censor.NET
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