‘We stop death here’
The unit defending Ukraine from drone and missile attacks
In a small wood in the Kyiv region Anatoliy Shyshak stared at the night sky. Dusk was falling. The only sounds came from a thrush nightingale and a faraway yapping dog. Shyshak – a sergeant in Ukraine’s territorial army – was listening for something else: an enemy drone. “It sounds like a moped. Not a classy Italian one, but something cheap and horrible,” he said. “They fly between 100 and 300 metres above the ground. You hear a buzzing.”
For the past year Shyshak’s brigade, the 241st, has scoured the heavens for Russian flying objects. Its task is to shoot them down before they can reach the capital. He and his territorial defence colleagues are based about 60 miles east of Kyiv, along one of several drone flight paths. “I like my job. We are pretty successful. We stop death here. Our families are in Kyiv so we are protecting our wives and children,” he said.
Since war began in 2022, the Kremlin has launched numerous air attacks across Ukraine, against towns and cities. It has used an array of deadly weapons including kamikaze drones – at least 4,600 of them – and hypersonic ballistic missiles. Last year many were taken out. But in recent months the interception rate has fallen to about 60%, largely because Republicans in the US Congress delayed a $61bn (£49bn) package of military assistance including vital air defences.
The consequences have been grim. Last week Russia fired a rocket carrying cluster munitions at the port of Odesa, killing five civilians. A law academy building known as Harry Potter’s castle caught fire. Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, only 25 miles from the Russian border, has been pulverised.
The Kremlin has used weapons sometimes supplied by foreign partners: Iranian-made Shahed drones and short-range ballistic missiles from North Korea.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly asked western allies for modern Patriot air defence systems. Ukraine needs another seven of them to defend its skies, Zelenskiy says, as well as fresh stocks of interceptors. These are used to destroy fast-moving Iskander and Kinzhal missiles, launched from the ground and bomber planes respectively. It is unclear when any further Patriots – from the EU and US – may arrive.
In the meantime, Shyshak’s unit hunts slower-flying drones using ancient military equipment that could have come from a museum.
Yevhen Dolin showed off his machine gun: an M2 Browning, designed during the first world war. “It might be old but it works,” he said. There was no point in wasting a $4m Patriot missile on a $20,000 drone, he explained, observing: “It’s basic economics. You don’t use a big gun to shoot a sparrow.”
The mobile unit also has a couple of Soviet heavy machine guns, known as Dushkas. They are fitted with tracer cartridges and regular
‘We don’t have any choice. We have to win this war’
Yevhen Miezientsev Appeals court judge
rounds. In a training session this week the unit parked its vehicles in a clearing. Two projectors threw light into the darkness, illuminating moths. A commander shouted: “Ready, aim, fire!” The machine gunners opened up. Two lines converged in a flash of red and green. There was smoke and an earsplitting pop-pop-pop-pop.
Capt Oleksandr Zhygun said his platoon was made up of older soldiers, in their 30s and 40s. He was 38. Most came from civilian life and had worked as TV journalists and designers. Their weapons were middle-aged too. “We are using antiquated guns because we don’t have new ones,” he said wryly.
Zhygun said so far his team had shot down every drone they had encountered. The Russians had recently changed tactics. Last October they began painting attack drones black, making them harder to spot, he said. Moscow’s unmanned aerial vehicles went on zigzag routes and could be redirected while airborne.
Unit members sleep in an underground dugout. Its roof is made from cross-hatched logs. With Russian troops advancing in the east, seizing a string of villages near the city of Avdiivka, could Ukraine still win? “It’s a difficult question,” Zhygun said. “We need more air defence systems … A lot depends on our western partners.”
The 241st brigade also defends the centre of Kyiv. A machine-gun post has been set up on the 12th floor of an apartment block on the edge of the city. Nearby is a thermal power plant. This spring, Russia has relentlessly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The last major rocket Russian attack on Kyiv took place a month ago, Yevhen Miezientsev said. His Maxim gun – made in 1944 – had downed four drones. It could not hit hypersonic missiles, he explained. Most members of his unit – known as Mriya (dream) – are part-time volunteers, with jobs in the legal profession. Several times a month he spends 24 hours on lookout duty. The rest of the time he is a judge in an appeals court.
“We don’t have any choice,” Miezientseve said. “We have to win this war. If we don’t our children and grandchildren will still be fighting Russians.”
Mykola Misechko, another volunteer judge, said negotiations with Moscow were pointless. “It’s a nonsense. You know a Russian is lying when he moves his mouth.”