Call sign Tyson: "We saw how Russian commit suicide on live feed"
Artem is only 21 but already has experience under his belt that many much older people shouldn’t have to face. He now operates a Vampire hexacopter with the Unmanned Systems Battalion (UBS) "Pathfinder" of the 115th Separate Mechanized Brigade (SMB). Call sign Tyson. He got it because he boxed when he was younger. He could have kept training and tending bar, as he did before the army, but he signed a contract in early 2023.
He was an infantryman. In his first battle, he lost a friend who had joined the military with him. Artem himself was wounded but returned to the front after recovery. Now he eliminates the enemy from the air. Speaking about his future plans, he says simply with a smile: "To fight on with charisma."
- How did the full-scale war start for you? Where were you?
- I was at home in Mykolaiv. A friend from the Border Service called me and said, "The war has started!" At first, I thought he was joking. Then a couple of strikes hit the airfield, and it became clear it was no joke.
- What did you feel? Were you surprised, shocked, or scared?
- Mostly confusion about what to do. There was so much panic around, what happens next, how to act.
I spent some time with my family in Mykolaiv. In March, right after my birthday, I went to the military enlistment office and said I wanted to join the Armed Forces. They looked at me and said, "Oh, kid, off you go. We don’t take your age and without prior service. You don’t need this now. Later." Fine. So I went to Odesa to make some money. I worked as a bartender. Quite a few cafés and restaurants were operating there at the time.
A year later, when I had just turned 19, my enlistment officer called and said, "There’s an option to sign a three-year contract. Will you take it?" I was at work in Odesa. I answered, "Yes, I’m on my way" (smiles — O.M.). The next day, I came to Mykolaiv, picked up the paperwork to sign the contract, passed the military medical commission, and left for training.
- How did your family react to your decision?
- I didn’t warn my mom the day before that I was going to enlist. I’d mentioned before that I wanted to, but she was completely against it because my older brother was already fighting at the time. From the start of the full-scale invasion, he was missing in action. He still is. So my mom didn’t want me to go as well. She found out when I was already in training in the Lviv region.
It turned out that, given my age, relatives have to be notified about where I am. So a psychologist called my mom: "Good afternoon! You know your son is joining the army, right?" She was a bit shocked. To this day, she asks whether I really needed to do it. But what can you do? You have to defend your country. That’s why I’m here.
- Where were you assigned after training?
- To the Ukrainian Navy. They came from the 10th Marine Aviation Brigade and asked me, "Will you serve with us?" I said, "I’m in!" (smiles — O.M.). So I went with them. Later, I was attached to the 1st Separate Feodosia Marine Battalion.
- And where did you fight initially?
- Kharkiv region. We held defensive positions and conducted assaults.
- What was your first assault like?
- It was very difficult for me… The thing is, I joined the army with my best friend, and we ended up in the same brigade. We went on our first assault together, too. He went in earlier with the first group, and I was in the second. That’s when I lost him, he was killed… I arrived there the next day. We marched seven kilometers on foot to the start point for our assault. The assault began at 4 a.m., and by 10 a.m., it was over for me, because I was wounded. The wounded "fell back", and we were taken out for evacuation.
- What was your injury? What happened?
- We moved into a tree line and approached an enemy trench. We went to ground. A mortar round landed right next to my brother-in-arms lying beside me. He was thrown into the air and fell on me. He was killed. I had a chest contusion and a concussion.
- How did you cope with all of that emotionally?
- We were well prepared for the assault. They explained how we had to coordinate with each other, how to work. So we were prepared for what might happen.
I went into the assault angry, knowing my friend had been killed. I came in fueled by aggression. After that, everything was dynamic and not entirely clear. Everyone was shouting, there was gunfire and explosions. We kept pushing forward, reacting to the situation. To sum up how I felt: anger – confusion – adrenaline. Those were the main factors of that first assault.
- When the adrenaline wore off after evacuation, what were you thinking? How did you feel?
- After returning to, let’s say, "white land," there was still confusion. I called my relatives from the hospital and told them I was alive and okay. But before that, I’d told my mom I wouldn’t go on the assault, I’d refuse, since she knew about my friend’s death and begged me not to go. I replied, "Okay, Mom. The connection here is bad. I’ll call you back later." And at two in the morning, I was already hopping into an APC (smiles — O.M.).
- How long did you stay in the hospital?
- Four days. I didn’t want to stay there. I asked to be sent back. I arrived at our base. I felt fine. I immediately told the commander I wanted to keep working. So I went to hold the defense.
- How did you start flying?
- I watched videos on YouTube. I liked it. We didn’t have drones at the time. Then a friend from my current brigade said they needed guys who wanted to learn to fly and then operate drones. They approved my recommendation letter, I came here, submitted my documents, and was sent for training. I returned and immediately went out to the positions to see how it all works on the front and how to fly in combat conditions.
- But you trained to fly the Mavic, right?
- Yes. When I arrived at the deployment site, the guys grabbed a Mavic and we headed to the training range. I got a feel for the controller there and how everything works. Then they asked me which UAV I wanted to fly: the Mavic, an FPV, or the Vampire. I was going to apply for FPV, but the guys said, "The Vampire is a really cool piece of kit!" I said, "Alright, let’s try it and see what it’s all about." And that was it, never once regretted my choice.
- Compared to the Mavic, what’s more challenging about piloting it?
- The flight controls are the same. It’s just bulkier. You have to lug it out, unpack it, attach the batteries and munitions, power it up, warm it up, take off, and bomb the enemy. That’s it!
- It’s also more conspicuous, both visually and by sound…
- I talked with the infantry guys, they say they can hear us 500–600 meters before we arrive.
- What I mean is it puts us at extra risk. The Russians can hear it, and they can spot it.
- They can. I’ve even been sent intercepted chatter from their radio when we were flying and bombing them. To keep it clean, it went something like: "Find where he’s flying!" (smiles — O.M.).
- They were hunting you?
- Yes. They often hunt us with their drones.
- Have you ever lost a UAV?
- Once. It was spotted, its battery was hit, and it went down.
- Tell us how you first flew the Vampire in combat conditions.
- My crew and I arrived at our position and unpacked everything. I was supposed to watch how it all worked, but I was itching to fly. So I said to my comrade "Student," "Let me give it a try!" He replied, "If you’re confident you can take off right now, go ahead. He replied, "If you’re sure you can take off now, go ahead. If not—don’t. Better to observe." I was certain! We took off. My first drone sorties were mine-laying missions. After that I practised until I could fly and strike effectively. That’s when a bit of friendly competition over the controller began (smiles – O.M.). We both love flying, so we draw lots, split the days, and take shifts. That’s how we live.
- Which is more difficult: mine-laying or engaging targets?
- To me, both are easy. Maybe I just have a knack for it.
- What do you strike most often?
- Enemy personnel. When we pinpoint their positions, their hideouts, we strike those. If it’s pilots, we immediately try to "flush them out".
- When is it easier to operate, by day or by night?
- It's easier at night, because I can fly, adjust, see what, where and how. A daytime sortie is like this: you arrive on the coordinates and release immediately, since the UAV can be shot down. You also have to approach via a flight path that skirts our own positions as much as possible.
- Recently, the enemy has changed its offensive tactics. If they used to advance in armored vehicles, now they more often deploy small groups. How does that play out for you now?
- In our sector, a reconnaissance team of two to three men goes out first. For offensive actions, it’s five to seven. They try to approach us. If we realise it’s an assault, we scramble every UAV so the enemy can’t even get close to our infantry positions.
- But they’ve got a lot of drones too, including fiber-optic ones…
- Yes. Fibre optics are such an unpleasant thing. But you can protect yourself from everything. We’re issued shotguns. They’re at the positions and in your vehicle. If needed, you can destroy the optics. We’ve had such cases before. It worked out, so everyone’s safe. Although personally, I haven’t had to shoot down a drone with a weapon yet.
Let me tell you an interesting story about fiber optics. Usually, when we operate during the day, the UAV lands as far from us as possible, hides there. So we landed it, camouflaged it, and left. Then we heard an FPV drone approaching. We took cover. The first FPV drone flew into the tree line and lost connection. It didn’t explode because it got caught on some wood and tore the fiber optic cable. Then a second FPV came in. We saw it just settle on the UAV, and it didn’t break either. Stuff like that happens.
- Soldiers say Russians often use fiber-optic drones called "waiters": they land on the road and wait for our vehicles to take off and strike them. Do you have such drones in your sector?
- We had a case where a supply vehicle was hit by such an FPV drone. They often hunt on the roads. Flying, scouting, waiting, and trying to strike.
- How would you describe the enemy?
- They don’t care about their people at all. And it’s not just in our sector. A comrade fighting elsewhere told me that when a UAV went down, the Russians sent one of their own out into the field under fire just to retrieve it. They know it will get "taken out", but they send it anyway.
I flew missions on two sectors, so I’ve seen how things work. There were times when one group came in, all KIA. Then a second group—same thing. And a third! Before the second group arrived, tactics had to be changed.
- Do they retrieve their KIA or at least WIA?
- There was a case: a group of three was moving. One was immediately killed. The second was a lightly wounded. The third didn’t stop and ran straight into the tree line.
- Did they find the third?
- He’ll come home in a body bag.
- If they manage to retrieve him.
- Well, in our sector, that’s just fertilizer by now. That’s how it is.
- Which mission to the front stands out most in your memory?
- There was one shift when enemy personnel moved onto a position with tents. We were just wrapping up our mission. It was night. I was watching the drone feed when the duty officer came over and said, "Someone’s moving around, we’ve spotted four silhouettes in the treeline." I looked, there they were. It even seemed like they were putting on and taking off protective ponchos. We scrambled, flew over, and struck them. During daytime reconnaissance, they sent me a photo showing four tents toppled over. Those weren’t ponchos (smiles — O.M.).
- Do they often set up with tents?
- In my memory, there was only one interesting case like that (smiles — O.M.).
- How would you describe the current situation on the front? What’s it like?
- Honestly, our sector is tough. Considering they don’t spare their infantry, they keep coming. They’re constantly trying to advance. But we’re doing everything we can to prevent them from reaching our infantry positions. We try to hold the defense, expand the gray zone, and make it clear they won’t get through here.
- Have their numbers increased recently?
- Probably about the same as before. Though they don’t make it far and end up dying. We even saw on a live feed a Russian commit suicide.
- How did it happen?
- Two were walking near a small lake. We took one out. The other checked his comrade’s weapon and shot himself in the head. He wasn’t going anywhere anyway. As we say: a good Russian is a dead Russian.
- How do you feel about them in general? I’m not just talking about the soldiers, but the people as a whole.
- There are those who oppose the war. But when it comes to the very people who came here, I feel absolutely negative. Why did you come here?! They send "Vanka." He comes back in a body bag (if he comes back at all). What’s the point of all this?!
They can’t have any motivation. Groups keep dying, again and again. Constantly! What motivation is there? I have one: to make sure this filth simply doesn’t exist here. Experience shows it doesn’t matter how much infantry they have, we’ll eliminate them anyway.
- Their motivation might be money.
- It’s such a "rich" country that you have to go to war just to make a living. Their senile old man dreamed he could do something, but it’s not working out. So why keep going?!
- By the way, do you follow the Russia-Ukraine negotiations?
- I really don’t like the news. Though, of course, I read them. But the Russians don’t change their demands. For us, they’re unacceptable. Overall, it doesn’t affect me or my work at all. For me, the war will end when all the bad people who come here for money die out, or when their old man tells them to leave and go back to the collective farm to drink vodka.
- They don’t even hesitate to do those things during the war. Our infantrymen say they’ve seen not only drunk Russians but also ones on drugs. They shoot at them, and they don’t react, they just keep moving…
- They can’t go back anyway. My comrade told me how on the Donetsk front they tried to storm their position. Our guys shoot, they try to run back, but there’s fire from behind them too. The Russians often suffer from "friendly fire", they shoot their own. Though it’s cheaper for us, saving ammo (smiles — O.M.).
- Former Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi recently suggested in an interview that the war could last until 2034. Overall, it’s very hard to say how long this will go on. How long are you ready to stay here?
- As long as I have the strength. I came voluntarily. And I plan to keep fighting with charisma (smiles — O.M.).
Olha Moskaliuk, Censor.NET
