A night with Baba Yaga: we follow an attack drone crew on a combat mission

PETRASIUK VADYM — Thursday, 10 April 2025, 05:30

The red and black colours of the OUN flag symbolise the land and the blood shed for it.

In Dmytro Pavlychko's poem "Dva kolory" (Two Colours), red is love and black is grief.

In this report, the red-and-black photographs are the result of the lighting used as the attack drone crew carry out their work by night. In the darkness, Ukrainian soldiers use only red flashlights to illuminate their surroundings, as they are less visible to Russian drones.

Food for some, landmines for others

We’re on our way to visit the attack drone crew of the 24th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after King Danylo.

The press officer leaves the car in some bushes at the entrance so as not to tempt Russian intelligence, and we enter the settlement on foot through some vegetable gardens. The village is extremely close to the contact line, so most of the residents have left their homes.

The drone operators have set up a fighting position in an empty house. But they come here only at night: the sun never sees them, only the moon and stars. We happened to arrive ahead of the soldiers – they turned up a few minutes later in a heavy jeep.

The drone crew’s work begins with the installation of antennas

All photos: Oleh Petrasyuk

The soldiers assembling a drone. They pay special attention to the blade fasteners. If these become loose in flight, vibration increases and the drone becomes harder to control

Ammunition and spare power batteries are swiftly carried into the house. Radio communications antennas are quickly put up. A Perun drone – the size of a table that could comfortably seat two people – is taken out of the shipping container. Four legs with blades are attached to it. And just like that, the combat aerial vehicle is ready.

The crew have two types of cargo to deliver tonight: one for the Russians and one for the Ukrainians. Bombs for the Russians, and parcels containing water, food, batteries, medicines and ammunition for the Ukrainian infantry on the contact line. Whatever the infantrymen order, they get delivered.

The launch site for the large drone is made of several building blocks so that it’s easier to service the device – to change the batteries and attach bombs

The drone operators start their night’s work with the parcels. The principle is to take care of your own first, then send some "treats" to the enemy. The parcels are almost identical – each one is the size of a microwave. They have the exact coordinates of the places where they are to be dropped off. Delivering supplies to Ukrainian Armed Forces positions is a daily mission for heavy-lift drones such as the Perun.

A parcel for the infantry is attached to the underside of the Perun. The drone operators try to keep all the parcels the same size and weight. They are wrapped in cushioning material so that nothing inside breaks when they are dropped

The engines start to hum, and the drone slowly rises vertically 30 metres into the air, hovering slightly against the constellation of the Great Bear. And then it moves off. Lit up by the bright moon, it stays in sight for a long time.

The green light of Perun is visible in the night sky, even against the backdrop of a bright moon

The crew members

One of the rooms in the house serves as the "flight command post". A heater-generator is running here. The drone operators chose the smallest room in the house for this so that it would warm up faster.

Devices and gadgets are connected and set up prior to the flight. Sitting in a chair that belonged to the owner of the house, a fighter who goes by the alias Hightower checks the virtual reality goggles that he will use to control the drone

The three soldiers squeeze onto an old sofa. We've been with the drone crew for around twenty minutes, but so far we’ve been fumbling around outside in the dark. Now we finally get to see each other in the light.

We get to know each other: Slavko is the sapper assigned to the crew, and the drone operators go by the aliases Hightower, Korzhyk (Cookie) and Rodzynka (Raisin). Once the bomb-laden drone is heading towards its target, the guys can chat about all sorts of things

Pavlo, alias Hightower, is the oldest. In civilian life, he used to be the chief power engineer at an oblast fish farm in Podillia, in the central west of Ukraine. Within the crew, he plays the role of engineering technician, the controller of the quadcopter. But like everyone else in the team, he can also be an operator and navigator.

Yurii, alias Korzhyk (Cookie), is the crew chief, squad leader and chief operator of the Perun. In civilian life, he was a programmer. Today, his working tool is the drone's control panel.

Maksym, alias Rodzynka (Raisin), who is the navigator today, is responsible for communication with the command post, and he assists Korzhyk. When the war started, he had just graduated from college, where he studied computer science. He is too young to have worked – he joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces to do his regular military service, and then the war started. Although he’s the youngest in the crew, he has the most military experience – more than four years.

Rodzynka installs batteries on the drone. They are changed after each flight of Perun

The fourth soldier is Slavko, the sapper. He is not a member of the UAV platoon, but is seconded to it. He’s in charge of the bombs, equipping and hanging ammunition onto the drone. His hands are always the last to touch the drone. Korzhyk will not launch the drone until he sees Slavko next to him. This is the procedure required by the safety precautions for working with explosives.

Slavko makes himself a workplace out of shelves and drawers and, like a market trader, lays out his "wares": 400-gram and 900-gram mines. There are also some high-explosive FAB aerial bombs, trophies taken from the Russians. They’re designed to be dropped from aircraft, so the sappers modify them to reduce their weight because the Perun drone cannot carry a whole bomb.

Sapper Slavko prepares the bombs. They are transported in a semi-disassembled state, so he has to screw and securely fasten the plastic stabilisers. To do this, the sapper always has electrical tape, instant glue, etc. at hand

Hightower uses disposable plastic ties to attach the bombs. He puts one of them in his mouth for a second so he won't have to search for it in the dark

The old Soviet FABs are the only munitions that are the colour of war – the traditional military olive green. The rest are black, as they were made in our time, produced on a 3D printer by the battalion’s engineering unit.

Were it not for the FABs, the Kalashnikovs in the corner, and the camouflage clothing the guys are wearing, the house would look like a simple village home rather than a fighting position. Cupboards, wardrobes, a TV, sofas, a washing machine, a gas stove – everything is from civilian life.

While the UAV is flying, the sapper can take a little break

How a Perun UAV works

There are two tablets, one for the navigator and another for the operator. The navigator's tablet shows a general satellite image; you can watch the Perun UAV heading towards Chasiv Yar.

As the drone approaches the target, Korzhyk zooms out on his tablet to see the houses and sheds on the city's outskirts. A Ukrainian reconnaissance team detected Russian positions in some of those buildings yesterday – they need to be destroyed. We fly to the first target.

"Hightower" and "Rodzynka" monitor the situation through electronic devices during the flight

"Do you think we'll destroy this house with two 400mm projectiles?" Rodzynka asks, smiling.

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't think so. But we'll see," says Korzhyk as he prepares to drop the bomb.

He is concentrating hard. At moments like this, all three of them lean closer to the tablet, almost touching it with their foreheads, but they are careful not to knock Korzhyk’s elbow, as his fingers are on the "Drop" button.

Now the first bomb is launched. It drills through the air and plummets to the ground. The explosion is inaudible, but the Perunʼs camera can see a cloud of dust. Half of the roof is blown off, but the building is still standing. The second 400-gram bomb also fails to completely destroy it.

"Ah, just as I thought! I should have made a bet with you – we could have betted coffee at least. I’d have won," Rodzynka jokes.

When the drone is flying to or from "work", the guys have a few quiet minutes to chat. Korzhyk and Rodzynka are both into anime, so they discuss the latest releases. Hightower, being older, doesn’t join in with those conversations.

"Maksym, you've served the longest out of all of us. Don't you want to be an officer?" the commander asks Rodzynka.

"Oh, I donʼt think so!" Rodzynka answers.

"Why not?" the commander says. "It's cool: you fill out a report, they'll make you a sergeant within a month, then junior lieutenant, senior lieutenant, and you'll go on and on… Career progression right up to general. You'll be eating general's salo [pork fat with layers of meat – ed.], and your belly will get so big that you could put a glass of beer with a cocktail straw on top of it, so you can drink it without taking your hands out of your pockets. You’ll be sipping your beer, and then you’ll come to check on us. We’ll be sitting here on this sofa, flying the Perun, and you’ll come in with your beer and your straw saying: ‘What the hell is this! Eh?!’"

The guys are laughing, never looking up from their work.

The guys allow themselves to use the white light of a torch for a few seconds

"Damn, only 18 satellites! There were 35 just now!"

"I went on a reconnaissance mission yesterday, and I found a Perun just like ours," Rodzynka says.

"Where was it?" Hightower asks.

"Near the petrol station at the entrance, hanging from some trees, on the branches," Rodzynka answers. "Whose could it be? Maybe someone from our brigade lost it, eh? Can we go and get it?"

Hightover opens the map on his smartphone.

"Near the petrol station, here? You're crazy! That's about 300 metres away from the Russians. They'd kill us on the approach!"

"I'll go and get it if you take me there with two Peruns. I'll hook it with a carabiner, and the four of us will come back – three Peruns and me," Rodzynka jokes.

The guys laugh.

"Maksym, you should be writing scripts for action movies. Yeah, why would you want to be a general, carrying that beer on your belly; you'd spill it. I’ve changed my mind: after the war, do a screenwriting course and go straight to Hollywood!"

The drone has returned and landed on its "launch site", made out of four concrete blocks. The guys go over to inspect it. Time for the mechanic and the sapper.

Hightower changes the batteries, checks the attachment of the blades, and twists something with a wrench. Together with Slavko, he attaches the ammunition, and it's ready to take off again.

This is how the guys hit their targets – one by one. On the last run, they decide to "clear the debt" – to finish off that house they started with.

The Perun is nearly at the target when suddenly the navigator says: "Damn, there are only 18 satellites! But there were 35 just now – what the hell is this?"

"Oh no! It's our last bomb! I hope it'll be okay," Korzhyk says, sounding annoyed.

The guys explain that the more satellites there are, the better. The drone takes coordinates from satellites. More satellites means more information and more accurate aiming. Why, suddenly, are only 18 visible out of 35? The vagaries of the weather? Air humidity? Atmospheric pressure? The wind?

Now that the target is almost in sight, they can attack. But at that moment the screen fills with snow and the image disappears. Korzhyk still manages to drop the last bomb, but it’s no longer possible to evaluate the hit.

"Huh, just at the most interesting place," the crew commander complains.

***

The crew completed four transport missions and eight combat missions that night, dropping 22 rounds of ammunition and hitting nine targets.

Although the UAV is called Perun, the Russians call it "Baba Yaga". Let them! After all, the fairy-tale Baba Yaga is a scary character; she scares naughty children. So the name makes sense: the enemy should be afraid!

The bombs are ready, just about to be hung from the drone. Two own-brand 400mm projectiles (designed and manufactured by the UAV strike unit’s explosives workshop) and an FAB air-dropped bomb adapted for the Perun – a trophy from the Russians

The bombs are attached, and a few seconds later, the guys take cover. Then Slavko, taking a step back, will perform the last action before takeoff – putting the ammunition on the combat section

As the boys tinker with the drone and the red flashlights attached to their body armour flicker, I sense a strange colour aesthetic – red "fireflies" dancing against the black background of the night garden. Red hands, red faces, a red drone, and the darkness of the night.

I take the liberty of jokingly comparing the guys to devils in hell. At first they are inclined to be offended, but the photographer, Oleh, shows them the photos, and we decide they are only devils for their enemies. They create hell for them.

"Ah, well in that case it's okay: I'm fine with being a devil for those f**kers. Yes! Mission accepted!" says Hightower.

* All targets and numbers in this piece have been changed for security reasons.

Author: Vadym Petrasiuk
Photographer: Oleh Petrasiuk
Translation: Yuliia Kravchenko and Yelyzaveta Khodatska
Editing: Anastasiia Kolesnykova and Teresa Pearce

weaponsarmyArmed ForcesRusso-Ukrainian war