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26.12.24 15:00 7 812 7

Call sign Droid: "Kurakhove direction is very difficult. It seems that Russians have gathered absolutely all electronic warfare here"

Before russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Andrii, call sign Droid, had been repairing electronics for almost a decade and had a workshop. But on 24 February 2022, he was forced to move from Chernihiv to a country house, where he joined the Territorial Defence. He made Molotov cocktails, helped the military, assembled and delivered first aid kits.

Then he moved to Kyiv with his family and later returned to his hometown. He went to war in March 2023. At first, he served in the airborne assault troops. Later, he started flying drones. Now he is a technical engineer with the "Zliuky Bobry" unit of the 46th separate airmobile brigade, which is fighting in the Kurakhove sector.

- Let's remember how the full-scale war started for you.

- From a call from my godfather to my wife, who said that the war had started. My godfather is a career soldier, so they knew the situation. I replied that this could not be true...

- Why didn't you believe it was possible?

- I could not believe that the Russians were capable of taking such a step. I didn't even want to believe it. I looked at Telegram. They wrote about missile attacks on Zhuliany and Boryspil. I thought it was some kind of provocation. Then I opened the window, and there was a military airfield about three kilometres away, and I heard arrivals there. I realised that it was not a provocation. My wife and I packed up, took our child and went to the country house near the city. There we found ourselves between our troops and the Russians.

Together with men who had also come from the city, I went to the Territorial Defence to get weapons. We understood that the Russians could attack Chernihiv through this country arear. But there were no weapons. So we made a lot of Molotov cocktails and delivered them to the checkpoints. We also collected first aid kits and handed them over to the military.

- What was going on there?

- A firefight between the two sides with everything possible. It was all flying overhead. We stayed like that for nine days until we were covered by cluster munitions. One day we went back to Chernihiv, and there we were surrounded.

- At that time, the situation in Chernihiv was difficult...

- Yes, there was nothing in the city at all - no water, no electricity, no heating. Our child was one year and eight months old at the time. So we had to leave. On 20 March, the military took us to Kyiv. We stayed there for a month and came back again.

- What did the military tell you? Heavy fighting was going on in the Kyiv region at the time,as the enemy was still hoping to take the capital.

- We didn't talk much. The road was difficult, so there was no time for conversation. Instead of the usual 140 kilometres from Chernihiv to Kyiv, we were travelling about 450 under fire. You look out the window - in the middle of the field we were passing, shells were sticking out everywhere.

- It was scary, wasn't it?

- It was. Before we left, we wrote down the grandparents' details on a piece of paper and put it in the child's pocket because we didn't know what could happen.

- So how did you end up in the war?

- Almost all of 2022, I had been working at a factory that made entrance doors. At the same time, I was telling my family that I would have to join the army, that I would not sit idly by. Moreover, I would not run and hide from the TCR, as many did, which, by the way, we still see today. At the end of February 2023, I went to the military enlistment office. I was immediately sent to the Airborne Assault Troops.

- Why is that?

- I am almost two metres tall. I guess they chose me for my physical characteristics. At first, I joined the 95th Brigade. From there, I was sent to the UK to undergo basic military training.

- Tell us, what are your memories of this training?

- They have a strict schedule, no matter what. For example, no one took the weather conditions into account - they trained in the rain. In general, it was quite tough. We spent the night in the cold in the woods with just a poncho on. We had instructors from Sweden - almost all of them, as peacekeepers, had once taken part in hostilities in Mali. They taught us according to the British programme.

- Did you talk to the instructors about our war?

- Yes. I speak a little English, so I could communicate directly with them. They said they had never seen anything like it. They explained that they were only giving us the basics. With that knowledge, we had to go further and study in Ukraine. But this base was very good. We were well taught medicine. As well as how to handle weapons.

- After returning to Ukraine, where were you sent?

- I returned to the 95th Brigade, and then we were transferred to the 46th Brigade. When I was assigned, I told them that I was a technician, although I had no relevant education, but for almost ten years I had been repairing electronics - phones, small appliances, even "Mavics". I told them what I could do. I asked if there was a position for me. At least a UAV operator. At that time, there was no such position. I was assigned as an assistant to a grenade launcher. At that time, the brigade left Bakhmut for the second time. We were undergoing combat coordination. The company paid attention to me, and I started learning to fly as a UAV operator.

- What did you fly?

- First, on the Mavic.

- Have you fallen?

- No. There was a time when I lost connection with the drone. It turned out that the cord from the tablet had simply come loose and I lost the image. Although I ran around the training ground at first, then I realised what was going on and was able to restore the image and return the drone.

- What were your impressions of your first flights? Some of the other pilots told me they were excited, while others said they didn't manage to do it right away.

- Since I had previously dealt with "Mavics", seen how they work, I didn't have any wow effect.

- Were you then in Zliuky Bobry unit? Was it just formed or did it already exist?

- It already existed at that time. I was more engaged in reconnaissance and drops from "Mavics". At that time, the topic of FPV was just beginning. But Bobr and Fizruk, who has now returned to us after being wounded in the Zaporizhzhia sector, were already training to fly them - he is missing one eye, but he remains one of the best FPV pilots. I should also note that we are a small unit, a bunch of enthusiasts.

So, before our brigade went to Zaporizhzhia to take part in the counter-offensive, I was sent to a training centre for FPV courses. There I spent 40 days training to become a pilot. They gave me a base and taught me how to fly. After that, I came back here. We had just received a batch of FPV drones that needed to be assembled, set up and prepared for operation. That's what I started doing.

- At that time, almost everyone knew about the planned counter-offensive in the Zaporizhzhia sector...

- Yes, this was said from every "iron".

- You were on the spot. Do you think that this announcement of our intentions spoiled our counter-offensive and played a cruel joke? When such things happen unexpectedly, they have a different effect.

- Such actions played a role. But, in my opinion, everything was choked by the fact that the Russians were very entrenched there. They simply built their defence line well. Their dugouts were poured with concrete, and it was almost impossible to get through the fortifications. We did not expect such powerful defensive fortifications.

- Now you are in the Kurakhove direction. What kind of fortifications do they have here? Are they prepared in the same way?

- The situation is a little different here, because when we were advancing in Zaporizhzhia, we saw their dugouts, and now we just haven't got there. But I can tell you that they have very powerful electronic warfare here. Some soldiers from other areas I talk to say that they can sometimes fly drones made of sticks. And we constantly have to change something - reconfigure frequencies and so on, because they jam everything they can. The fag#ots have a so-called "Curtain" that blocks video channels and prevents us from flying. Although we have already learnt to fight it. Somehow we are trying to overcome their defences.

- Yegor Firsov, the chief sergeant of the UAV strike company of the 109th Brigade of the TDF , who is also fighting in Donbas, told me that Russian infantrymen have not only REBs but also the "Bulat" system, a smartwatch that vibrates when a spectrum analyser detects a drone. Have you seen anything like this on the enemy's side?

- More often than not, a powerful directional transmitting antenna is installed in the immediate vicinity of the LBZ, and a receiving antenna is located behind it. They detect the approach of our drones using the receiver and turn on a powerful signal at the same frequency. And on the vehicles, they generally have wide-band frequency noise generators that jam our control.

- What is their situation with drones? What's new?

- Recently, "Sudnyi den" drones have been used frequently, flying on quite different frequencies. But in general, their UAVs are monotonous and of the same type. So they can afford to launch them one after the other, not thinking about where they will reach.

- Do they spare both people and drones?

- Yes, yes, there are plenty of them.

- Do we have a deficit?

- Personally, thanks to the help of volunteers, we don't have any. We have enough regular kamikaze drones.

- Do you often have to redesign drones?

- We have already reached a level where we can ask for the drones we need to minimise our work with them. For example, the Sternenko Foundation and small volunteer organisations such as "Vzhyk" collect them specifically for us. There is also a charity organisation called "Unbreakable Hearts". "The Wild Hornets" make the kind of drones that don't need to be redesigned. We ask them all what kind of drones we need, and they send them to us. Unless we make additional settings on the spot, which is done on all drones to make them more convenient to operate.

And those provided by the state often have to be modified. However, the situation is better now than it was before, when each drone had to be redesigned, which required a lot of time and money. By the way, we always have a fundraising for spare parts. Even today, when the drone is ready for operation, we still need equipment. Due to the fact that the enemy is developing a lot of new electronic warfare devices, the frequencies are being jammed. In order to fight them, we need to customise everything, which also costs money.

- Pilots often tell us that there are problems with state supply. Therefore, they believe that it would be better if each brigade could order their own drones and the state would purchase them. The manufacturer may not always know the real needs of a particular unit. After all, not every drone that is effective in the Kherson sector can be effective in Donbas...

- That's the way it is. But I will tell you that a lot depends on the command. Ours is an adequate one, it listens to our opinions. If, for example, we say that we cannot work from this position, they give us the go-ahead to choose a position from which we can do our job, given the equipment we have.

We have also recently compiled a list of characteristics of drones that we need. It is still in the process of implementation. But, again, we are now getting better ones from the state. Not the "Shrike" drones we used to get. It was a nightmare because it was impossible to work with them.

- What breakdowns do you face most often? What happens to the drone?

- Speaking of "Mavics" and "Matrice", there are problems after a fall when the beam breaks off. Or some errors in the settings. We do what we can on our own. If we can't, we send them to large workshops with which we have established communication.

- On its Telegram channel https://t.me/zluki_bobry, your unit posts videos of destructions. For example, the other day they showed how they destroyed a Russian UAZ and literally tore off the roof of a golf cart...

- I don't want to brag, but according to statistics, about 90 per cent of our flights are hits.

- What do you usually hit?

- Lately, it's been light vehicles, like UAZs, golf carts, buggies. Our guys caught a few motorcyclists. We are also working on enemy hideouts, isolated fag#ots that we come across. And since the beginning of the summer, we had more than fifty destroyed tanks - T-90, T-80 and T-82. There were cases when they were blown to pieces by a single hit. No one is counting the IFVs and APCs anymore.

- So has the enemy changed its tactics in your direction? Do they no longer advance in columns, as they used to?

- Now they have started moving in small groups, using more infantry. Moreover, the weather is such that you can't drive vehicles everywhere. Previously, they were travelling in columns of 20 units. Our brigade stopped one of them. Apparently, they realised that it was ineffective, because when a convoy is moving, it is simply dismantled.

- But infantry is harder to hit.

- Yes, because they scatter. It is much harder to catch infantry somewhere in a landing than it is to catch a tank or some other equipment.

- Moreover, the weather conditions are not favourable for drone "hunting". Wind, fog and snow comlicate the work...

- We have to get out of it. The same fog is a wall for the radio signal. Water droplets do not let it through, which is why not only visibility but also signal quality deteriorates. But we work and try to be efficient.

- How would you generally describe the situation in your area?

- The direction is, in fact, very difficult. As I said, it feels like they've gathered absolutely all the electronic warfare they have here. Sometimes we can't even get off the ground because of the suppression. The military who moved to us from another direction asked how to work in such conditions! Nothing here is functioning for them.

- What does this enemy behaviour indicate? Are they planning to seize Donbas as soon as possible?

- Most likely, the enemy wants to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk Oblast. But I don't understand why they have such a dominant presence in our direction.

- Many of the military people I talk to say that this is one of the most difficult stages of the war. What do you think?

- It's a difficult time because there are not enough people. Remember the beginning of 2022, when there were queues at military registration and enlistment offices. Today, they are the same, but for certificates of unfitness for service. That is why there is no mobilisation resource. Civilians do not want to go, they are afraid. It is understandable that they are scared. But now it's like this: either you go to war or you help. There is no third option. Just sitting around and saying that you were not born for war is not an option. None of us were born for it! And not only civilians. Even the career military did not plan to take part in such a war. But we have what we have.

P.S.: Dear friends, "Zliuky Bobry" are raising funds for FPV drone components and equipment upgrades. If you have the opportunity and desire to help, here are the details: