Colonel “Relish” and his team of volunteers from Ukraine they managed to destroy three combat drones launched by the Russians over Kiev by shooting them down with old Red Army machine guns.
| Fountain: AFP
“The first one was in October. It flew during the day and was clearly visible. We opened fire when he entered our sector,” the commander explains. Ukraine parts, whose nickname “Relish” means enthusiasm.
| Fountain: AFP
Russia It has been sending waves of Iranian Shahed drones in recent months, many of them targeting power grids. Unlike cruise missiles, they fly relatively slowly and their small engine makes noise so soldiers can follow them with their eyes and ears.
| Fountain: AFP
“We shot down the other two on January 1, after the New Year. It was dark, but our colleagues turned on the searchlights and used thermal imagers, so we found them and shot them down. I personally machine-gunned them,” details. “Smak”, a 49-year-old man with a gray beard.
| Fountain: AFP
colonel Ukraine he leads a group of 80 civilian volunteers, some retired, others still active, who monitor drones day and night. Its basis is a small room on the ground floor of a house under construction on the outskirts of Kyiv.
| Fountain: AFP
At 20:00 a new brigade arrives to cover the night shift. If the air raid sirens go off, they get into their cars and run to the nearest hill where they take up firing positions to try to shoot down any drones from Russia get closer to the city.
| Fountain: AFP
There are about a dozen such units that monitor the sky of Kyiv, as part of the territorial defense forces of Ukraine. Ukraine.
| Fountain: AFP
In addition to Kalashnikov assault rifles, the group is equipped with two Degtyarev machine guns, originally used soviet red army in the late 1920s they had a distinctive high-capacity magazine.
| Fountain: AFP
When attacking drones, a special group of Ukrainian volunteers fire tracer bullets that emit bright flashes, correcting their course.
| Fountain: AFP
Deputy commander Nikolai, 50, emphasizes that they have many units around the country that monitor drones entering the country’s airspace. Ukraine and transmit information. Drones fire from the Black Sea to the south or from the Russian border to the east.
| Fountain: AFP
Since October the forces Ukraine they have beefed up their air defenses, and the Western allies have promised and delivered modern anti-aircraft missile systems capable of shooting down numerous missiles and drones.
| Fountain: AFP
attacks Russia they also became less frequent and more powerful. “At the moment we are not receiving so many warnings, this is a more or less calm period,” Nikolai says.
| Fountain: AFP
Volunteers sleep on beds and chairs, while the deputy commander Ukraine he stays in touch until 05:00, when the team drinks coffee in the cold.
| Fountain: AFP
“We are the last line of defense,” says a volunteer from Ukraine, Mykola, with binoculars around his neck. “If we had something like the Iron Dome in Israel, I would be happy,” he adds, referring to the Middle Eastern country’s innovative air defense system.
| Fountain: AFP
Source: RPP
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