A Russian soldier left alone in a trench by Bakhmut waves his arms, his eyes rolling. Next to him are his companions, dead. He looks at the sky because above him there is a Ukrainian drone, he waves his arms because he is asking the small aircraft buzzing above his head to spare him, not to shoot. He drops the rifle to the ground, crosses his arms over his chest, then is forced to crouch down, because behind him, his “his” are shooting at him. They understood that he wants to surrender. Another Ukrainian aircraft approaches, drops what looks like a white packet, but it’s not a packet, it’s instructions to surrender. The soldier looks around, lingers for a few seconds, then starts walking fast along the trench, while the “friendly fire” does not stop, escorted by the Ukrainian drone. The video was released by the commander of the 92nd Brigade’s assault drone division Yuriy Fedorenko. “Being captured in Ukraine offers a better chance of survival than serving in the Russian army,” he commented under the video, referring to the treatment Russian conscripts would receive under arms. Under the post, dozens of enthusiastic comments about the behavior of the Ukrainian soldiers: “They did the right thing”, “The young soldier will live, so he will see how things work outside Russia”.
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Last April, Euromaidanpress wrote, an unconventional use of a drone had saved the life of a young Ukrainian couple. Valeriia Ponomarova and her husband Andrii Bohomaz had gone to Bakhmut to try to help their elderly parents leave the city, which was under constant attack. But they took a wrong turn and ended up near the front line where Russian troops had taken up positions. Ukrainian drone video shows the car being targeted immediately and the couple trying to flee on foot. In the midst of the chaos and the shelling, another Ukrainian drone takes off, this one has a hanging sign and the inscription: “Follow me”. Andrii is on the ground, hit, Valeriia, crouched next to him sees the drone, and follows it, towards the Ukrainian positions and safety. Her husband will be thrown into a ditch by the Russians, still alive, and recovered the next day by the Ukrainians. The drone video is now part of the evidence against Klim Dmitrievich Kerzhaiev, 26, a lieutenant originally from Moscow, for the attempted murder of a civilian under Article 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Code criminal law of Ukraine.
In the last year, Ukraine has developed a remarkable skill in using unmanned aircraft, not only for surveillance and rescue operations: yesterday a public building in Starodub and a Rosneft oil depot in Klintsovsk, Bryansk region, in Russia, they have been hit by Ukrainian drone strikes, the governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz, said. Since the beginning of the war, the Bryansk border region has been hit numerous times, by drone and mortar fire. Targets were recruitment centers and police stations.