At 23, he has already filled the equivalent of a cemetery and several Russian military hospitals. Among his comrades in arms, Andriy Skyba, drone operator, is more than a role model: a “ace”. His exegetes speak of 600 enemy soldiers killed by the bombs and grenades that he drops using machines made in China. At World, from his base in the north of Donbass, while giggling, he corrects the shot: “That’s not correct. The real number is much higher., but is opposed to the exact assessment of its action being made public. For security reasons, explains the officer who accompanies him.
Part of his hunting list circulates on social networks, in the form of hundreds of videos, signed by the 10e Alpine Assault Brigade. Filmed from the quadcopter bomber drone, the videos invariably follow the target for long seconds. A grenade eventually detaches from the device, plunging vertically, hitting the ground and exploding in the immediate vicinity of one or more Russian soldiers.
The quadcopter’s camera then zooms in on the bodies to assess the success of the attack. “One night, we liquidated seventy enemies and injured twice as many. They were waves of assault groups that continued to rise towards us despite the losses,” says Andriy Skyba.
Perfectly relaxed and quick to joke, the ace of drones recounts his journey seated in front of a table garnished with buttered toast and goblets of very sweet tea. To his right stands on his fins a long unusual shell, white as snow, “with phosphorus, stung from the enemy”he says. “I have been here for eleven months and for three and a half years in the army”, explains this soldier, who was previously an assistant locomotive driver in a steel company in Kryvy Rih, the birthplace of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He finds his wife there, during his rare leaves.
“Kill more invaders”
On his life outside the army, Andriy Skyba remains discreet. Of a jovial character but not very expansive, he does not seem accustomed to being the center of attention. A simple objective drives him. “Kill more Russian invaders”, summarizes in a childish laugh this small soldier with slightly slanted eyes.
Outside, the sounds of war rage: rockets, mortars, and gunfire, endless. The first Russian positions are a few kilometers away, which constitutes the usual framework of the 10e Alpine Assault Brigade. Andriy Skyba is not one of those operators of powerful military drones stuffed with electronics operating thousands of miles from their command center. He has neither the ambition to pilot one of the Turkish Bayraktars bought by Ukraine, nor to supervise the battle plans within a staff. “I want to stay fighting on the front lines within my battalion, while perfecting my tools, because victory will come from technological superiority. »
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