Behind the scenes “drone hunters” Shahed. Who are the Ukrainians who destroy them in seconds with only a machine gun

While most Ukrainians take cover during Russian attacks, Ukrainian soldier Kostiantyn Chernyshov watches enemy drones. In a war of advanced technology, Kostiantyn and his team shoot down Russian drones with machine guns. He says he only has a few seconds to shoot down a drone or make it inoperable, writes the Kyiv Independent.

Kostiantyn, 26, has been fighting for over two years in the 756th Regiment of the Ukrainian Army, shooting down Russian Shahed drones.

The mobile air defense teams were established before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Instead of using high-tech air defense systems like Patriot or Iris-T, they use machine guns.

Kostiantyn’s team of four helps defend Kiev. As the leader, he gives the order to fire. A driver transports the team to the secret locations and illuminates the sky with a searchlight. A soldier in the group guards the group and helps Kostiantyn with ammunition.

Kostiantyn’s team works practically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can be called for interventions at any time. They only have a few minutes to prepare when they receive the order to go. “We don’t know if it’s a training exercise or a combat mission. We treat each one as a combat mission,” the soldier said.

From the beginning of the invasion in 2022 until the end of 2023, Russian forces attacked Ukraine with almost 4,000 drones, most of which were shot down by the Ukrainian military. But Ukraine lacks air defense missiles to destroy all of Russia’s weapons.

Dismantling weapons using modern technology is expensive. A Russian kamikaze drone, like the Iranian-made Shahed-136, is produced for between $20,000 and $50,000 – the price of a new car in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Patriot air defense missiles used to shoot down the drones are estimated to cost about $4 million per missile.

Before the full-scale invasion, Kostiantyn was a border policeman. He joined the Ukrainian army as a volunteer on March 3, 2022. Originally from Dnipro, he says he only had two to three days to train because the war was already in full swing when he joined the army. The soldier was transferred to Chernihiv and then to the Kiev region. “I was told I would be a machine gunner (responsible for using the machine gun – no) because I already had experience with weapons,” he said.

Since Russian forces launch drones mainly at night, mobile air defense teams work in the dark. The longest intervention by Kostiantyn’s team lasted up to nine hours, and the shortest half an hour. “We are given a certain amount of time during the day to prepare for night work. During the day we can sleep four more hours, and we rarely have an extra hour of sleep. The body has already adapted,” Kostiantyn said.

Kostiantyn’s team has up to 10 minutes to reach the indicated location. He intervenes in complete silence so he can hear the sound of the approaching drone. The drone can be heard from about 250 meters away. All team preparation takes one minute.

During the day, soldiers observe the drones through binoculars. Even at night, Shahed drones are clearly visible through a thermal imaging camera. It is very difficult to shoot down a drone and it often takes several mobile air defense teams to shoot one down. The key is to hit the engine, propeller, or front of the drone, Kostiantyn explains. The soldier says he can hit a drone from a kilometer away.

Things get complicated if the drone wobbles instead of flying straight, because then it’s hard to shoot down. Other difficult situations are if there are foggy, rainy or cloudy conditions. Since the Russian military started painting their drones black, it has become even harder to identify them.

The Ukrainian military said it could not say how many drones were shot down by Kostiantyn for security reasons.

On the night of April 23, for example, 16 out of 17 drones were shot down. On the night of April 22, five out of seven drones were shot down. On the night of April 19, Ukrainian air defense and mobile firefighting teams destroyed all 14 drones sent in the attack.

Teams like Kostiantyn’s are constantly on the move as part of an air defense network in Ukraine that tries to create an umbrella to protect civilians. Kostiantyn’s small team works well together. When drones fly, every minute counts.

Kostiantyn says he is addicted to his work, which he describes as “a drone hunt,” and hopes that one day, wherever he goes, he won’t hear one.

Publisher: GM