A few days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia unleashed a huge military convoy. Satellite images showed the kilometer-long line running from the north towards Kiev.
The worst was feared for the Ukrainian capital. But the convoy was not moving forward and soon it even had supply problems. Why wasn’t clear. Now, a Ukrainian commander has spoken to the British “Guardian” that he wants to have the answer: his small aerial reconnaissance unit called “Aeroroswidka” would have sabotaged the huge convoy in the manner of David-versus-Goliath with numerous small night ambushes, so Commander Yaroslav Honchar.
The team is made up of just 30 Ukrainian special forces and drone operators who started developing drones eight years ago as a group of volunteer and amateur IT experts. Because of export controls, “Aeroroswidka” was forced to use crowdfunding and personal contacts to obtain necessary components such as thermal imaging cameras. For example, they could get the components via eBay.
APA/AFP/2022 Maxar Technologies
In quads against tanks
Some of the attacks on Russian military equipment were carried out on quads. According to Honchar, Ukrainian fighters boarded Russian army vehicles on quads near the town of Ivankiv at night and dropped 1.5 kg bombs from drones. “This small unit destroyed two or three vehicles ahead of this convoy overnight and after that it got stuck. They stayed there for two more nights and destroyed other vehicles,” Honschar said.
The Russian army then tried to split the convoy into smaller units. As a result, “Aeroroswidka” destroyed a supply depot. “The first unit of the column was then stuck without heat, oil, pumps and gas. And all of this happened because of the work of 30 people,” said Honschar. It was also “Aeroroswidka” who helped protect Hostomel Airport northwest of Kiev on the first day of the war. With the help of their drones, around 200 Russian paratroopers were shot on the spot.
Own construction equipment
According to the Guardian, Honchar is a former soldier who worked as an IT marketing consultant. He returned to the army and helped build the unit. One advisor was a management consultant who now specialized in fundraising for the unit. Initially, the unit used commercial surveillance drones, but the team of engineers, software designers and drone experts have since designed and built their own designs, including surveillance drones and aircraft capable of dropping small bombs and anti-tank grenades.
Furthermore, they would have created a sensor network along the frontline using Starlink satellite data and thus created a digital map. With that, they can now provide Ukrainian artillery units with live data on the army’s movements, he said.
Honchar believes the small effective unit can make a big contribution to electronic warfare against Russia. “We are like a swarm of bees,” he said. “A bee is nothing, but when you suddenly come across a thousand bees, they are a great force. We are like bees, but we work at night.”