Young Ukrainians risking their lives building deadly kamikaze drones to hunt down and kill Russian soldiers
We’re racing across town in battle-torn eastern Ukraine, trying to keep up with a battered BMW driven by an 18-year-old with his 21-year-old mate urging him on; but they aren’t joyriding youngsters. They’re soldiers in the military and part of a special unit, and they’re taking us to their headquarters.
We had met an hour or so earlier when we pulled up outside another small house they operate from, long since abandoned by its owners after a year of continuous shelling from the Russian forces.
It’s the same across much of the Donbas – the civilians have moved out and the army has moved in.
We can’t film outside as their location is secret, but we’re led into a gloomy corridor and through a curtain.
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Inside two boys are working, one with a soldering iron and another tapping furiously on a computer, data and codes scrolling up the screen.
Beside them, an AK-47 has been leaned against the wall.
In a glass-fronted cabinet are rows of sealed plastic tubes, next to the stacks of batteries and covering an entire shelf, piles of neatly stacked drones – the type you’d buy in a high street shop.
This secret base is home to the 93rd brigade’s kamikaze drone team, known as the Seneca unit.
A kamikaze drone exploding
Their job is quite simple, but the danger is acute.
The team stationed here take donated drones, reprogramme them so they can’t be detected in flight, attach explosives to them using cable ties, go to within one or two kilometres of the frontline in Bakhmut, and using virtual reality goggles, fly the drone into the Russian lines.
It’s crazy – but it works.
Anna is the commander of this group of four. “I’m just a very little commander,” she tells me.
Anna, 23, says she may have children once the war is over
She’s just 23 but she looks younger. She is an expert at logistics and has been put in charge of the three boys.
I ask her what her family thinks of her being here.
“They worry. But they can’t say anything because I am an adult, and they may agree or disagree, but they do agree to help us,” she says.
She tells me her mum and dad send them care packages and collect donations for them to buy more equipment.
Anna reveals she got married during the war, and so I ask her where her husband is.
“He’s just outside,” she says, laughing. He is also serving.
“We are fighting for our land, for our history, for our culture. We are fighting for our freedom, serenity and fighting for our people. Russia has stolen everything that is Ukrainian, is Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian history, unfortunately,” she says.
Anna hopes that when this war ends, it will be the end of conflict with Russia for good.
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She tells me when it’s over, she has plans for a new life.
“I’m keen on CrossFit, maybe after this, or maybe something else with sport, or maybe I’ll have some children, I don’t know…”
With the call sign “Miami”, one of the operators is just 18. He’s from here in the Donbas, and his father is fighting as well.
‘Miami’, 18, was nine years old when Russia first invaded in 2014
To them, the Bakhmut battle is an attack on their actual home.
“Miami” was just nine years old when Russia first invaded in 2014, and he says although it’s sort of been normal for him to live through the conflict in the Donbas, he didn’t expect to see full-scale war on these streets.
“It feels very strange maybe because not many time ago I walked on the streets, walked in this place. It’s not just about Konstantinovka, Chasiv Yar, Novodmytrivka, Bakhmut. It’s very strange to see this place at war.”
Mark, 21, says he joined up a few months after the Russian invasion started last year. He says he’s learnt the art of making and priming the kamikaze drones on the job.
He motions for me to sit down and shows me in detail how he sets the explosives up. He attaches wires, tiny batteries, and a simple triggering device that blinks a red light, before turning solid, signalling the charge is set.
Mark, 21, joined the military not long after the Russian invasion
“It’s like Hollywood,” he tells me, laughing.
Holding the tube, he slowly moves it in the air, simulating it is flying, and then smashes it into the wall.
I jump.
It may not be armed but it’s still a tube of high explosives and fragments.
He, just like the others watching on as we chat, says they have no choice but to fight even if it’s a bit scary.
“You have the explosions in your hands, just like this blinking LED, and you know, this can just like boom in your hands and just like that, it sends you to the grave,” he tells me.
“But I’m happy, it’s like absurdity of our life because it’s scary, and everyone who tells you that it’s not scary, it’s like b******t.
“It’s scary, it’s scary to attach the bomb, scary to just, like, land and just like do all these things. But you know your motivation, you know what’s behind you is just like a nightmare.”
The young people say they have no choice but to fight
The dedication, determination and complete absence of fear are all the more disturbing to me because I can’t help but think that they’re mainly younger than my own children, yet every day they risk their lives to kill Russian soldiers.
At their headquarters, a young woman in her early 20s with dyed-blue hair stares intently at her computer.
Above her and on three walls are large monitors with a mosaic of screens.
They are live drone feeds of the Bakhmut battlefield. They pass real-time information to the soldiers fighting on the ground. They can see the Russian soldiers and they can warn the Ukrainian units of their movements.
We can’t film the feeds because of operational security, but one of the soldiers, Artem, shows me what is happening – and explains Russia’s tactics as we watch.
A tech soldier – also part of the kamikaze drone team
“The main purpose now is to make sure that we can hold the city, and we won’t give up our flanks because Russians are trying to come around, you see here?” he says, pointing at the screen.
“They are trying to breach us everywhere, like their tactics right now is to constantly attack from every direction.”
When artillery or mortars can’t be used because of the danger of friendly fire they call up Anna’s team and send them to the front to carry out a focused hit.
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Sky’s Stuart Ramsay with Artem
This is a full-on military unit involved in a deadly war, yet one can’t forget their age.
While we filmed, I could smell a bag of popcorn heating up in the microwave. Like any youngster anywhere in the world perhaps, they like munching on popcorn while working away.
It really is heartbreaking to me.
This generation is now at war and shouldn’t be, but then again, everyone in Ukraine is now.
Stuart Ramsay reports from eastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Artem Lysak, and Nick Davenport.
A helicopter carrying Iran’s president has been involved in a “hard landing” during bad weather, Iranian state media has said.
President Ebrahim Raisi was travelling across the far northwest of Iran following a visit to Azerbaijan.
Rescue teams are trying to reach the scene but are reportedly being hampered by fog and heavy rain in a mountainous area.
State media initially said it happened near Jolfa, about 375 miles (600km) northwest of Tehran, but then put it further east near the village of Uzi.
The president was said to be travelling with foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan province and other officials.
State media says this is the last-known picture of the helicopter carrying the president. Pic: IRNA
However, Iranian interior minister Ahmed Vahidi didn’t confirm whether Mr Raisi was on board the helicopter involved, saying he was travelling in a convoy of three aircraft.
Mr Raisi had been in Azerbaijan for the inauguration of a dam with the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev.
“The esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to the bad weather and fog,” the interior minister said on state TV.
“Various rescue teams are on their way to the region but because of the poor weather and fogginess it might take time for them to reach the helicopter.”
Iran state media showed images of rescue teams. Pic: IRNA
The helicopter came down in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. Pic: IRNA
He added: “The region is a bit [rugged] and it’s difficult to make contact. We are waiting for rescue teams to reach the landing site and give us more information.”
Many of Iran’s military aircraft date back to before the 1979 revolution and international sanctions can make it hard to obtain parts.
Mr Raisi, 63, is a hardliner and former head of the judiciary who some have suggested could one day replace Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He was elected in 2021 at the second time of trying.
President Raisi (left) had been in Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam alongside the country’s leader. Pic: IRNA
Pic: IRNA
Mr Raisi’s time in charge has included major protests over Mahsa Amini – the woman who died after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Iran also took the unprecedented decision in April to launch a drone and missile attack on Israel.
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Officials in Slovakia are investigating whether the attacker who shot the prime minister was not a “lone wolf”.
The interior minister Matus Sutaj Estok issued the update on Sunday, after the suspect was previously believed to be a “lone wolf”.
Robert Fico’s condition is no longer life-threatening but is still very serious, his team said on Sunday.
Deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak issued the update four days after the assassination attempt on the populist leader.
Speaking to reporters outside the Banska Bystrica hospital, where Mr Fico is being treated, he said: “The worst that we feared had passed, at least for the time being.
“We are all a little calmer. When we were saying that we want to get closer to a positive prognosis, then I believe that we are a step closer to that.”
The prime minister, 59, was shot multiple times on Wednesday in an attack that raised fresh concern over the polarisation of politics in the central European country of 5.4 million people.
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Mr Fico was shot in the abdomen as he greeted supporters – the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years.
Video footage showed the Slovak premier approach people gathered at barricades and reach out to shake hands as a man stepped forward, extended his arm and fired five rounds before being tackled and arrested.
Mr Estok has previously said the suspect objected to the government’s Ukraine policy.
Mr Fico’s government has ended official military support for Ukraine and taken a more pro-Russian line on the conflict than most European Union partners.
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The Slovak Specialised Criminal Court ruled on Saturday that the suspect, identified by prosecutors as Juraj C, should remain behind bars until the trial charged with attempted murder.
Prosecutors said they feared he could flee or commit other crimes if freed, a court spokesperson said.
The suspect can appeal the order, but so far no statement has been published by him or a lawyer on his behalf.
Little information about the would-be assassin has been made public, after prosecutors told police not to identify him or release details about the case.
Unconfirmed media reports said he is a 71-year-old former security guard and an amateur poet.
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Meanwhile, Mr Kalinak, who is also Slovakia’s defence minister, said Mr Fico’s condition was still too serious to consider transferring him to a hospital in the capital.
Milan Urbani, deputy director of the Banska Bystrica hospital, told reporters that, as of Sunday morning: “The patient is currently out of a life-threatening condition”.
He added: “His condition remains very serious, and he needs a long time to rest to recover. We firmly believe that everything will go in a good direction.”
Members of a Ukrainian brigade have described how they were secretly relocated to help defend a section of the country’s border with Russia a few days before a new invasion began.
The commander of an artillery unit from 57 Brigade said his guns were even firing at Russian troops the day before the ground incursion into the northeastern region of Kharkiv, which started on 10 May. He said the forces had been “brazenly” amassing on the Russian side of the border.
“We were hitting tanks on the border… it was already a real war,” said Sasha, 26, who uses the callsign “black”.
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The commander of a second artillery unit similarly confirmed the brigade had been moved early to bolster defences in this direction.
The troops had previously been defending the city of Kupiansk, also in Kharkiv.
Sasha, an artillery battery commander of the 57 Brigade
The comments offer a sense of how Ukraine attempted – ahead of time – to scramble forces to counter a Russian build-up along its long, northeastern border.
But the move was nowhere near enough to prevent the largest assault into Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost two and a half years ago.
A Ukrainian source, describing the first few days of the Kharkiv offensive just over a week ago, said there had been moments when he feared “we had lost the frontline”.
The source said the situation had since stabilised but warned: “We don’t know how long it could be like this”.
Sky News on Saturday tried to visit an artillery position, manned by soldiers from 57 Brigade, just outside the town of Vovchansk – a key target of the Russian offensive.
While trying to reach an artillery position, a Sky News crew was told to turn back for safety
As we approached at speed by road, a soldier travelling with us said we had to pull over because he needed to communicate via radio with troops on the gunline.
Suddenly a voice over the radio could be heard saying: “Don’t come here. Don’t come at all.”
We were told it was too dangerous to travel further and we had to leave. It was not immediately clear what was happening on the ground.
At a makeshift base, safely back from the frontline, the artillery unit commander Sasha uses electronic maps on a tablet and laptop to confirm targets for his guns to attack.
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He said he and his team relocated from the Kupiansk front on the 4 to 5 May.
“We were indeed moved here earlier,” Sasha said. But he signalled he would have liked longer to prepare.
“I don’t know all the situation and why it happened like this. But I know for sure that to better repel [an attack], we might need either more time or better-prepared positions,” he said.
“Ahead of the assault, we were already hitting targets on Russian territory because we knew they were gathering there. They were brazenly assembling.”
Sasha described the moment the Russians started to advance.
He said it began with three hours of artillery fire against Ukrainian targets before ground troops crossed the border.
“I would love that they [the Russians] had been stopped at the border,” he said.
Soldiers say they could inflict more damage on Russian soldiers if they had more ammunition and better weapons
Instead, a fierce battle erupted, as Russian infantry, backed by airstrikes, drone attacks and artillery fire, pushed forward.
“For the first few days, they [the Russians] were storming our positions – columns of 30 to 50 soldiers. We were hitting them.”
In the chaos, Sasha said he worked to gather information to ensure his troops were able to operate.
“I am proud that my guys managed to do their best,” he said. “All credit to those who stayed on their artillery positions.”
A Soviet-era D-20 Howitzer artillery piece nicknamed “grandma” by soldiers
He described the frontline as initially being “fragile” but said reinforcements were now in place. The commander said Russia had lost the opportunity to make a significant breakthrough.
“Until now they had a chance. Even in my area, I knew where we had gaps where they could have slipped through. Now we don’t have such gaps,” he said.
“I am satisfied that we have managed to stabilise the situation.”
At a second artillery position, on a different section of a frontline that has expanded by some 40 miles in the wake of the new attack, a Soviet-era gun, hidden under netting and tree branches, points in the direction of Russia.
Shells used by the D-20 Howitzer artillery piece, which was built in the 1970s
Soldiers here said they would be able to inflict a lot more damage on the invaders if they had more ammunition and better weapons.
Nicknamed “grandma”, their D-20 Howitzer artillery piece, which fires 152mm shells, was built in the 1970s.
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“We’re saving our artillery shells right now. We fire one, they fire back five,” said one of the servicemen, who – at 50 years old – has the callsign “Grandpa”.
A second soldier said Russia has more weapons than his side.
Asked what difference additional munitions would make, he said with a laugh: “It would increase the number of dead Russians – 100%”.
Additional reporting by Azad Safarov, Ukraine producer
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