{"id":859,"date":"2025-01-10T00:04:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T00:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/hes-mine-how-ukraines-ace-drone-unit-hunts-russian-soldiers-near-kupiansk\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T00:04:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T00:04:32","slug":"hes-mine-how-ukraines-ace-drone-unit-hunts-russian-soldiers-near-kupiansk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/hes-mine-how-ukraines-ace-drone-unit-hunts-russian-soldiers-near-kupiansk\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s mine\u2019 \u2013 How Ukraine’s ace drone unit hunts Russian soldiers near Kupiansk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u2018He\u2019s<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story contains scenes and images that some readers might find disturbing. <\/em><\/p>\n

In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only.<\/em><\/p>\n

KUPIANSK AREA, Kharkiv Oblast \u2013 <\/strong>Snow, sleet, fog, the lot; when the weather is at its worst is when Russian soldiers tend to go out on assault. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the traditional wisdom dictates anyway: the harder it is for Ukrainian drones<\/a> to watch and enter the battlefield, the more chances that small Russian infantry groups have of trudging their way to Ukrainian positions unscathed. <\/p>\n

After a day and night of steady snowfall, the sky begins to clear just before dawn, during the silent drive to Ukrainian drone positions south of Kupiansk<\/a> in Kharkiv Oblast.<\/a><\/p>\n

Closer to the ground though, a stubborn layer of fog continues to hang, through which hares and deer can be seen bouncing out of the way of the drab green pick-up truck.<\/p>\n

The drone team wakes up around six in the morning. Though less than two kilometers from Russian positions themselves, they have set up a comfy dugout, complete with bunk beds and a heavy-duty gas heater.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll have a more or less quiet day,\u201d says Oleksandr \u201cSkhid,\u201d the 26-year-old commander and navigator, as he opens his work laptop in the dugout, \u201cbut since there’s fog, it means that more of their infantry will be able to slip through, as there isn’t very strong surveillance on our side right now.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time we had a major mechanized assault there was bad weather.\u201d <\/p>\n

As the rest of the four-person team is still getting out of bed, it quickly becomes clear that the day will be far from quiet. <\/p>\n

A group of about six Russian infantrymen has been spotted by colleagues in reconnaissance, creeping forward through a snowy tree line.<\/p>\n

\u201cCopy, we\u2019ll get to work,\u201d Skhid relays to his commander.<\/p>\n

Having barely got out of bed, Yaroslav \u201cStrilok\u201d heads to the neighboring dugout to arm and prepare the weapon of choice: a seven-inch first-person view<\/a> (FPV) drone with a custom-made fragmentation munition ziptied to the bottom.<\/p>\n

Pilot Vladyslav \u201cSkuba\u201d sits down in a lawn chair next to Skhid and dons the ubiquitous goggles, preparing to transport his human vision and dexterity inside a high-precision weapon.<\/p>\n

Skhid, meanwhile, is honing in on the location of the Russian soldiers, given away by their bright thermal signatures in the winter twilight.<\/p>\n

Within a few minutes, drones are in the air, with just about four minutes of flying between them and their targets.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018He\u2019s<\/picture>
Soldiers of the Achilles Strike Drone Battalion in a dugout near Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on Dec. 8, 2025. (Aria Shahrokhshahi\/The Kyiv Independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This FPV team belongs to the Achilles Strike Drone Battalion,<\/a> part of Ukraine\u2019s 92nd Assault Brigade, and one of the most effective drone units in the country. <\/p>\n

Initially forming as a ragtag drone reconnaissance group in May 2022 under the command of Kyiv<\/a> City Council member Yuriy Fedorenko, the unit became one of Ukraine\u2019s first official strike drone companies in February 2023.<\/p>\n

Over the following year, with the use of drones surging on both sides of the war, Achilles forged this new type of unit with a personalized, systematized approach, from the training<\/a> of the steady stream of new recruits to the organization of battlefield work. <\/p>\n

Less than a year later, the company became a battalion and is now looking to expand further to the regiment level.<\/p>\n

The rapid evolution and expansion of Ukraine\u2019s best drone units comes at a tumultuous time: as the country struggles against dire shortages in combat-effective infantry and Moscow<\/a> looks to press its advantage ahead of the return of Donald Trump<\/a> to the U.S. presidency.<\/p>\n

After two years of heavy fighting, since the area was liberated<\/a> from Russian occupation in September 2022, Russian forces have made major inroads<\/a> in Ukraine\u2019s defense of Kupiansk, reaching the Oskil River to the city\u2019s south in October last year. <\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s FPV suicide drones or makeshift bombers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are now often taking the lion\u2019s share of the task of stopping Russian assaults upon themselves. <\/p>\n

In this context, the work of next-generation soldiers like Skhid and his team is key. Still, the results are a confronting glimpse at the future of war: where everything that moves can be the target of a cheap, high-precision manhunt.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
Ukraine struck hundreds of targets deep inside Russia in 2024. What did they achieve?<\/div>\n
As Russian troops continued to hold an advantage on the ground, Ukraine has been keen to level the power in the air. In 2024, Ukrainian forces bet on drones, hitting targets thousands of kilometers deep inside Russia. Ukrainian attacks have targeted dozens of oil refineries that aid Russia\u2019s war e\u2026<\/div>\n
\"\u2018He\u2019sThe Kyiv Independent<\/span>Kateryna Hodunova<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"\u2018He\u2019s<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

Morning hunt <\/code><\/h2>\n

\u201cThere he is, just to the right!\u201d <\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t long after the drone reaches the tree line that Skhid spots the first enemy infantryman in the tree line on the first-person feed.<\/p>\n

By now, the Russian soldier knows he is being hunted; the chaotic screeches of an FPV are nothing like the steady whir of a reconnaissance drone, and grow deafeningly loud the closer the drone gets. <\/p>\n

Skuba looks for a way to close the distance, something that is much easier said than done in the circumstances. <\/p>\n

Touching any stray branch can easily bring down the fragile quadcopter, but hovering for too long in search of an opening also gives the targets the chance to shoot down the drone with a well-aimed rifle burst. <\/p>\n

In civilian life, Skuba lived with his young family in Bucha outside Kyiv, working as a programmer and learning the piano in his free time. <\/p>\n

Like almost all pilots like him in the military, he first learned the intricate art of FPV piloting on a computer simulator, before graduating to physical drones when he joined Achilles in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n

Unlike commercial camera drones like the DJI Mavic model commonly used for reconnaissance, FPV drones have no in-built stabilizers: even the smallest jerk of the copter \u2014 up, down, left, right, around \u2014 is the result of the most delicate of manual adjustments by the pilot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a somewhat specific job,\u201d said Skuba. \u201cIt’s a balance between being careful enough, fast enough, and maneuvering through obstacles in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018He\u2019s<\/picture>
Yaroslav “Strilok,” a soldier of the Achilles Strike Drone Battalion, carries a first-person view drone at positions near Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on Dec. 8, 2025. (Aria Shahrokhshahi\/The Kyiv Independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having made it through the bushes, the drone bears down on the enemy. The last second of the FPV\u2019s video feed shows neither fight nor flight, as the Russian soldier simply keels over onto the ground with his back to his attacker. <\/p>\n

The video cuts out on impact. <\/p>\n

\u201cWas there an explosion?\u201d Skhid asks rhetorically, waiting to see the hit from the view of the reconnaissance drone. But the livestream, delayed by a few seconds, shows no explosion.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks like it was a dud,\u201d mutters Skhid. \u201cStrilok, another one!\u201d he shouts immediately in the direction of the other dugout.<\/p>\n

Barely able to take his goggles off before the next flight, Skuba has no time for frustration; within two minutes, the drone heads out again to the same spot. <\/p>\n

This time, after a similar dance between the trees, Skuba dives in again, and this time the munition detonates. <\/p>\n

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