Oksana, Aerial Reconnaissance Officer of Predator Patrol Police Brigade: "They said women were weaker. But it turned out there’s no difference on job"
A native of Bila Tserkva volunteered to join a combat unit and now regularly travels to Toretsk to locate enemy infantry from the air.
For some reason, society still does not recognise or does not want to see that the patrol police are fighting on a par with the rest of the Ukrainian Defence Forces. And as soon as scandals related to mobilisation arise, as soon as the territory of the occupied lands increases, instead of standing next to those already at the front, civilians start to say: let the patrol police go to war. And they do not notice that they are already fighting. Moreover, even female patrol officers are fighting. And all of them expressed their desire to do so voluntarily, without coercion. We talked about all this with 36-year-old Oksana from Bila Tserkva.
"I DIDN'T CARE WHAT I DID. THE MAIN THING WAS TO FIGHT"
- How long have you been with the Predator division?
- From June 2024.
- When did you decide to join a combat unit?
- I wanted to do this back in 2022, but for some reason, they didn't accept girls then. As soon as the opportunity arose, I immediately took it. I serve in intelligence.
- You are a drone pilot. Did you study before you joined the unit?
- No, it's already here. I got acquainted in Bila Tserkva, we have people who know how to fly, they showed us. But here we were trained for a month.
- Did you want to become a pilot?
- It didn’t matter to me what exactly I’d be doing. What mattered was fighting. At first, I thought it would be difficult to learn how to fly, that everything would look unusual from above. But it turned out to be easy. Of course, it was important for us to understand how things work during missions. So we asked the guys where they were based, what they were doing, what we needed to take with us. The first missions were scary. But we got used to it pretty quickly.
- Where exactly were you deployed? Do you remember your first combat duty…?
- We were in Toretsk, in garages, in a basement. It was a bit scary, of course — GABs (guided aerial bombs) were hitting, there were shellings. We weren’t really used to that. In Bila Tserkva, thankfully, nothing like that happens. So at first, it was frightening. We conducted reconnaissance, observing from above. The duty units assign us tasks — they ask us to monitor specific locations. And we carry out those requests. My first flight was to the slag heaps, where there was a lot of infantry. We confirmed there was a target to engage. Strikes were directed there and carried out.
- Does the result of your work feel rewarding?
- Very much so!
- Before your first deployments, did people say things like, "Maybe don’t go. Do something else instead"? Did anyone try to talk you out of it?
- Of course. Guys aren’t always thrilled to work with women. Now they’ve gotten used to it — at least in my team. Everything’s fine now, no issues at all. But at first, it surprised them. They’d say, "Why do we need a girl? Women are weaker, you won’t be able to do what we do." But it turned out there’s no difference in the job itself. Whether it’s women flying drones or men — it doesn’t matter. Anyone can operate a Mavic. I haven’t regretted for a second that I chose to go to war. I have two brothers who’ve been fighting since 2022. They’re in army units. I knew what it was, I understood the war was very close.
- But back home, you were doing important work too. The police have a job to do across the entire country. When did you join the Patrol Police?
- In 2017. Before that, I worked as a civil servant in the State Treasury, just paperwork. That kind of job didn’t suit my personality. I was bored. Then I saw there was a recruitment drive for the Patrol Police, a battalion was being formed in Bila Tserkva. I applied and passed the selection. I worked three years in the field and another two in an office. Honestly, I was starting to get bored again.
- No patrol police force in the world, except Ukraine’s, is engaged in combat. Some say it’s not their job. But patrol officers — and there are many such cases — have been drafted into the army. Do you think it’s right that a combat brigade was formed within the Patrol Police?
- It’s right. Like it or not, we’re trained, we know how to handle weapons. We’re well-versed in things related to protecting people, and we undergo medical training. This is our job — it’s what we know and what we’re capable of. Why train someone from scratch when there are already fighters ready to go?
"WE WORK FOR FIVE TO SIX HOURS, THEN WE SWITCH OUT — AND TAKE TURNS LIKE THAT"
- For a long time in Toretsk, we didn’t observe any assaults using heavy equipment, adds Dmytro Mokych, commander of the Predator Patrol Police Brigade. — There’s mostly infantry here, moving in small groups. We use drone-dropped munitions against them. Some crews are tasked only with reconnaissance, but all of them are prepared to carry out payload drops. We train our patrol officers in such a way that everyone is interchangeable.
-"You are engaged in aerial reconnaissance, but you can also work with payload drops?" I ask Oksana.
- Of course, yes.
- Would you like to learn how to operate FPV drones or something else?
- We’ve just opened a new bomber position… It’s really interesting. They drop a lot and kill a lot — their results are just excellent. There are seven of us girls living in the house where we stay between deployments; two of them work with FPVs, although one of them has already switched to being a bomber.
- Are you all from the patrol police?
- Yes.
- What are the unexpected things to consider during aerial reconnaissance?
- It’s easier to work in the summer because the weather conditions are milder. Right now, the weather is just unbearable. Sometimes we take off, the drone flies a few meters and that’s it, it just hovers in place. It won’t go further because of rain, snow, wind or all three at once. It really affects the work. You try to protect it because you understand the value of that drone, but you still have to complete the mission. Saving the drone is very important. They don’t just appear out of nowhere.
Usually, there are four of us at the position: two fly, and two rest. We work for five to six hours and then rotate. If someone’s drone gets lost or the drone starts drifting, all four of us try to bring it back. Sometimes we go out searching in the bushes or trees. I once had to climb an acacia tree...
So far, I’ve lost one Mavic. It didn’t come back because the fog was thick like milk, you couldn’t see anything. It’s really disheartening to lose a drone, you get very upset about it. But in our team, the mindset is... well, no one gets blamed or harassed for losing a Mavic. It can happen to anyone.
- You don’t talk to the Mavic while it’s in the air? Like, "Come here, where are you…"?
- Oh, we talk to it...talk to it a lot! It’s all emotion. And no matter what, you're right there with the airplane in the sky.
- As a woman, is there anything you feel is missing for you at war?
- Honestly, I can’t say there’s anything missing. I have everything I need. Really, our conditions are ideal. The only issue is sleep — we don’t get enough rest, because the rhythm keeps changing. When you’re at the position, the schedule goes like this: you either sleep or fly, regardless of whether it’s day or night. And then at home, you wake up in the middle of the night... Such a rhythm of life is off.
Our drone pilots currently follow this schedule: three days at the position, three days off, explains Vasyl Koriak, who oversees unmanned systems in the brigade. — During the three days at the position, as Oksana said, it’s five hours flying, five hours resting. Four people go out — two work, two rest. And by rest, we mean preparing for the next shift: recharging batteries, making Mivina (instant noodles - ed.note), taking care of basic stuff.
Our positions are really small, Oksana continues. — Usually, it’s a dugout where we can’t even move past each other without someone stepping aside, lying down, or sitting. Each mission is different. Sometimes everything goes smoothly — good weather, clear task. And other times everyone’s on edge, snapping, the Mavic’s gone off somewhere, the antenna isn’t working, nothing’s going right…
"NOT EVERY MAN WILL PERFORM A TASK AS WELL AS A WOMAN"
- As I understand it, the drone unit within the Patrol Police’s combat brigade started developing actively back in 2022, because you saw that this was the future and that it was indispensable.
- Vasyl Koriak, call sign "Dancer", was the one who really took the lead in this, replies Dmytro Mokych, commander of the "Predator" Brigade. — He and a few other guys started out flying an old basic Mavic — doing simple reconnaissance, which was exactly what was needed at the time. Then things started developing rapidly. A lot of different types of fixed-wing UAVs appeared. Now we see a huge variety of aircraft. None of this existed before the full-scale invasion. But as soon as the need arose, people began to learn. Most of our guys are self-taught and now they’re the ones training others. That’s exactly what Vasyl Viktorovych is doing — we’ve even named his field of work "Broken Wing."
- How many crews are needed for the unit to operate effectively?
- That depends on the direction and nature of combat operations. It’s directly linked to our tasks — how many firing positions we have, what needs to be adjusted, and what targets need to be hit.
- Did women volunteer to join the unit right away? And what’s your attitude toward that? Do you try to avoid taking in women?
- No, why not? Women can perform the same tasks as any man here. In fact, I’ll say more — not every man can carry out a task the way some women can. Every person is an individual. Just as all men are different, so are all women. Of course, war means risk, first and foremost, to your life. Everyone understands they might not return from a mission tomorrow. But everyone shares the same desire: to eliminate as many of the enemy as possible, to complete the mission, return home and then go back out and do it again. Whether it’s women or men, it makes no difference.
- Of course, we also used to hear things like, "Let the girls go to the kitchen and cook something," adds Vasyl Koriak. — But the women insisted themselves, and we understood it too — they needed to learn to fly. I remember our female patrol officers training in a field near the house, under the supervision of instructors — our own patrol guys who were recovering from injuries. Then more guys showed up — we were expanding the unit at the time. The girls had already completed two out of three weeks of training. And suddenly these new guys arrive... So the girls started teaching them. That kind of balanced things out a bit. Plus, we structured the groups so that each one had at least one woman. After that, no one was suggesting anyone should be sent to the kitchen...
The work of an aerial reconnaissance operator usually means staying at a fixed position some dugout or basement. You arrive, you fly your missions, pack your gear, throw out your trash and after three days, you go home. And thank God if it goes that smoothly. Unfortunately, right now the fighting is intense, the front line keeps shifting, so sometimes we have to relocate urgently. In the summer, we were struggling with fires — everything was constantly burning. At one point, some of us were digging others out: first, the mortar team had to pull the reconnaissance officers from a basement after it partially collapsed — thank God everyone survived — and later, it was the other way around. The mortarmen caught fire, and the aerial recon crew ran over to a nearby street in Toretsk to get them out. Everyone made it out that time too. Loss of equipment in situations like that is nothing. What really matters is getting everyone out. And sure, physiologically, a man who weighs 90 kilos can move more bricks than a woman. So our girls — they’re like hot seasoning in the dish we’re cooking. It’s a good thing they’re with us.
I have a friend who's working on implementing NATO standards in our army — new approaches, new developments... When he found out that we have women in our aerial reconnaissance unit, he asked, "Can I come visit and talk to all of them? I want to understand how you made this work." There are also women in the army operating Mavics, but those are isolated cases. In the Patrol Police, women have always served. When I was patrolling myself, my partner was almost always a woman. I used to joke — 50 kilos with the pistol included, tiny — but we worked, we completed all our tasks, and everything went just fine.
- Female patrol officers have completed training, they know how to handle weapons, they’re no strangers to body armor or physical strain. They’re ready to take risks...
- Yes. But the most important thing isn’t even weapon handling — anyone can be taught that. I was mobilized once myself — they taught me how to use a weapon. There’s nothing special about it. What really matters is understanding discipline, hierarchy, and getting chewed out by the commander, especially in wartime. Our people don’t need that explained to them. I remember my mobilized company back in 2015 — and it honestly makes me a little sad. One guy was 55 — the military recruitment officer caught him near a coal mine in Alchevsk. Another was 18 — came from the Carpathians as a volunteer fighter to defend Ukraine. One says, "I’m not going anywhere," the other loads himself up with grenades and wants to storm Donetsk… And the whole company was like that. How are you supposed to command people like that? It was tough. And here, our main advantage as a unit is that everyone’s on the same page. They’ve all gone through the Patrol Police selection process and not everyone passes it. Nowadays, patrol officers spend six months training at the academy, and the discipline there is strict, just like in those American army movies, with drills, cross-country runs, and physical training...
- I thought it would be like the Police Academy...
- "Sometimes it really is," the men say with a laugh.
Expectations for women today reflect the demands of the times. It used to be believed that women were only suited for paperwork. There were very few women in the police force. Now, they patrol the streets on equal footing with men. The same applies to war. We can see how it works in Israel — women and men equally defend their country. Everyone receives military training, everyone knows how to use a weapon, and everyone is ready to defend their homeland at any moment. So why should Ukraine be any different? We don’t know how long this war will last. We do not know what other enemies we will have. That’s why the idea of defending our state must be developed and modernized... Everyone wants the war to end tomorrow or the day after — because it means blood, human losses, destruction. But defending the country must happen now, not later. Patriotism has to be instilled in children from an early age, teaching them to love their homeland and to be ready to defend it.
- Unfortunately, the Muscovites are overtaking us in this regard," the brigade commander adds.
- "Russia, as our eternal enemy, took every step to weaken our country, to destroy the army and political structure from within," adds Koriak. - "And all this was done long ago, before 2014. Soldiers and officers were devalued in all possible ways. In spite of everything, the guys did everything they could to repel the enemy's attack at that time. And in 2022, the army was already much more powerful and began to change.
- "Let me give you an example that, for me, is quite telling," says Vasyl Koriak. "Back in the day, I was completing my military training at the university, to become a junior lieutenant. This was in 2009. They sent us to Vasylkiv for a month for practical training: military uniform, barracks, the whole deal. We were students, third or fourth year, I don’t even remember anymore. On weekends, we were allowed into town. And what’s on a young guy’s mind? Girls. You want to meet someone, have a coffee or a soda. When you go out in civilian clothes, everything’s fine, you talk to girls, it’s easy. But when you go out in uniform, people avoid you, like you’re some kind of bum. Even though I didn’t look any worse, didn’t speak any worse, didn’t, excuse me, smell any worse than the guys in jeans… But still. It was extremely unpopular to be in the military. And I believe that was also the result of Russian subversive influence. But fortunately, there were people in the army who didn’t let it collapse completely — people who stayed loyal to the oath. It was they who pushed back against the enemy in 2014."
- Look, I was born in 1987," the brigade commander adds. - "As a child, I always played 'war games' with a machine gun: "tra-ta-ta". Now children are changing too, because they see what's happening, their parents are at war, their neighbours, many are affected by this war. Patriotic films have started to be made, and children perceive this, and it has influenced them. There is a militarisation of society... Even young children understand that they will grow up to become defenders. This is important for the country. Because the demilitarisation that took place during Ukraine's independence gave rise to what we are seeing now - evasion. No one wants to defend Ukraine. And the people who have volunteered... The military says they are tired, they need to be replaced. Of course, they need to be replaced - but by whom? There are two options here: either we, boys and girls, leave our positions and go home and say: "We are tired"...
- And the Muscovites enter there...
- …and we lose our land, our… I won’t say our statehood — because we’ve held on to that — but we are losing huge swaths of territory. That’s why we need people. Motivated, patriotic people who are ready at any moment to stand up and defend the Motherland. To replace those who are exhausted, both mentally and physically. Sometimes people hold their positions for ten, fifteen, even thirty days — under siege, under bombardment… And there are those who, even after losing limbs, after recovering, come back to the front — to take revenge. The country’s political and military leadership has chosen the right side — the side of fighting to the end. So let’s get in line and destroy the enemy.
Violetta Kirtoka, Censor. NET
