The military unit that stopped a Russian convoy heading to Kiev

Russia had been invading Ukraine for a week when it organized a military convoy from the north to launch an absolute attack on Kiev. But a few days later a convoy of 65km of armored vehicles and trucks stopped and the attack was thwarted.

The Ukrainian commander said much of the failure was due to a night ambush carried out by a group of 30 Ukrainian special forces and drone operators in the quadrangle.

The drone operators came from the Aerozvidka air intelligence unit. Founded eight years ago by a group of computer-savvy volunteers and hobbyists creating their own machines, Aerorozvidka has become a key element in Goliath’s resistance against David of Ukraine.

While Western countries support the Ukrainian army with thousands of anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, along with other military equipment, Aerorozvidka is forced to turn to crowdfunding and personal contacts to continue acquiring components such as advanced modems or thermal export cameras that control To prevent the arrival of such products in Ukraine.

How they won with the tanks

The commander of the unit, Lieutenant Colonel Yaroslav Honchar, explains how the ambush near the town of Ivankov led to a halt to Russia’s huge and heavy attack. He said members of the Ukrainian unit were able to approach the Russian column at night by carrying a pedestal and passing through the forest on both sides of the road from Chernobyl to the south of Kiev.

The Ukrainian soldiers were equipped with night-vision goggles, sniper rifles, remote-controlled mines and drones equipped with thermal cameras or small pound-and-a-half bombs. “This small unit destroyed two or three vehicles at the head of this convoy at night and then left them stuck,” Honchar said. “They stayed there for two more nights and destroyed many cars.”

In order to advance into the Ukrainian capital, the Russians divided the column into smaller parts, but the same Ukrainian attack group was able to attack their supply depot, Honchar said, preventing the invaders from advancing. “The first echelon of Russian forces was left without heating, oil, pumps and gas, all thanks to the work of 30 people,” he said.

Aerozozvka’s unit also claims to have contributed to the failure of a Russian air strike on the first day of the war against Hostomel Airport, northwest of Kiev. They did so using unmanned aerial vehicles, which they identified, targeted and bombed about 200 Russian paratroopers hiding at one end of the airfield. According to Lieutenant Taras, one of Honchar’s aides, “this greatly contributed to their inability to use the airfield to launch an attack.”

From the University to the Army

Although the details of these statements could not be verified independently, the U.S. defense authorities claim that the Ukrainian attacks helped stop the armored vehicles around Ivankov. The large number of aerial combat footage published by the Ukrainians confirms the importance that drones play in their opposition.

The department was founded by Ukrainians educated at a young university who volunteered after participating in the Maidan protests in 2014 to show their technical knowledge in the service of resistance against the first Russian invasions in Crimea and the Donbas region. Its founder, Volodymyr Kochetkov-Sukachi, was an investment banker who was killed in a battle in Donbas in 2015, a reminder of the high risks. The Russians can take the electronic signature of the plane and respond quickly with mortars, so Aerozvidka teams must flee as soon as the attack begins.

Honchar is an Army veteran who became an IT marketing consultant who returned to the Army after the first Russian invasions. Taras is a management consultant and the department specializes in fundraising. As of February, he had not joined the full-time fighter.

Initially, the division used commercial surveillance aircraft, but the team includes engineers, programmers and drone enthusiasts who have completed their own design.

They built a series of surveillance drones and other larger, eight-rotor, five-foot aircraft capable of launching rocket bombs and anti-tank grenades. They also developed a sensor system called Delta. Sensors located along the front line provide their data on a digital map so that Ukrainian commanders can see enemy movements. Now they use Starlink system satellites, Provided by Elon MuskProvide direct data to Ukrainian artillery units so that they can target Russian army targets.

The unit was disbanded in 2019 by the then Defense Minister, but in October last year it was hastily activated due to the threat of invasion of the Kremlin.

The ability to maintain the aerial vision of Russian movements played an important role in the success of the guerrilla tactics used by Ukraine. But restrictions on the supply of drones and components have hampered Aerorozvidka’s efforts to expand and make up for lost equipment. They also failed to achieve much with the experience of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s procurement system, in part because they are a recent addition to the military and are still perceived as an outsider.

Another obstacle to the operation of Aerorozvidka is the existence of export controls for some of the most advanced modems and thermal cameras in the United States and Canada that these teams need. To solve them, they turned to crowdfunding campaigns and a global network of contacts and supporters who acquire them on eBay and other internet portals.

Bee chair

Among these employees, Marina Borozna, who studied economics at the University of Taras, is looking for ways to acquire the components needed for the department and to find routes across the border. “I know there are people who want to help, people who want to do more than just provide humanitarian assistance,” he said. “If you want to deal with the root cause of all this suffering, you have to defeat the Russian invaders. “Aerozozdka makes a big difference and needs our support.”

His partner, Klaus Hendrich, is a molecular biologist at Cambridge and is assisting in his experience as a conscript in the German Army. “I myself was in the artillery intelligence department, so I immediately realized the huge impact that Aerozvidka has; “In fact, it looks like their artillery,” said Hendrich. “What we can do to make a difference is to gain international support, be it in the form of financial contributions, assistance with hard-to-find technical components, or donations from conventional civilian drones.”

Along with shells, missiles and bombs, cyberom is also being carried out in Ukraine. Russian intervention is part of a war that is also raging against Aerozvidka’s unit. Until now, the strategy has been to wait for the Russians to turn off traffic jams when they have to launch their own drones, take off aerosovka planes at the same time, and unload firearms on Russian vehicles from which they are attacking. This is electronic warfare

According to Honchar, these technological battles and the Aerozozvka battle are a form of future warfare where small team networks with interconnected advanced communications systems can bring down larger and better-armed adversaries. “We are like a bee stool,” he says. “One bee is nothing, but when 1000 are ahead, they can defeat the highest power. We are like bees, but we work at night. ”

Translated by Francisco de Zarate