A 15-year-old Ukrainian boy is being considered a national hero after he used his small domestic drone to help the Ukrainian army locate and destroy a Russian military convoy heading to the country’s capital, kyiv, in the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Canadian portal Global News, which published the story after reaching an agreement with the young man, 15-year-old Andrii Pokrasa was the key player who allowed Ukrainian forces to destroy a Russian military caravan headed for kyiv in late February. “He is a true hero, a hero of Ukraine.Yurii Kasjanov, commander of the unmanned reconnaissance section of the Ukrainian forces, told Global News.
Ukrainian civilians have been using domestic drones to help the military since February, when Russia invaded Ukraine on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. In the first days of the war, drone trader Taras Troiak, head of the Ukrainian Federation of Drone Owners, created a Facebook group with the aim of motivate amateur pilots to join the efforts of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Andrii Pokrasa – 15 year old hero!
He used his toy drone to determine the coordinates of a column of enemy vehicles moving towards #kyiv along the #Zhytomyr road, and gave the coordinates to the Armed Forces of #Ukraine. As a result, the column was destroyed. pic.twitter.com/4KY1pjfoqZ
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 8, 2022
About a thousand people have already joined this group, including the young Andrii Pokrasa.
In the specific case, Pokrasa was able to identify in detail the location of a Russian military caravan that had entered the country from the north, crossing the border with Belarus, and was heading to kyiv along the road that connects Jitomir with the Ukrainian capital. Pokrasa lived with a family in a small town not identified by Global News, near that highway.
Andrii Pokrasa was asked to help the military, as he was the only drone owner in the vicinity. “He was the only one who had experience with drones in that region.“, Commander Kasjanov assumed. With the first generic information provided by the military, Andrii went with his father to a field near the house and used his drone to search for the exact location of the Russians.
“They gave us approximate information about where the Russian column could be. Our goal was to find the exact coordinates and give them to the soldiers,” the young man told Global News. “It was one of the larger caravans moving along the Khitomir road, and we managed to find it because one of the trucks had had its lights on for a long time.“, he added.
A territorial defense unit contacted Andrii Pokrasa, 15, early in the war.
They knew the teenager was a highly skilled drone operator.
He used his mini drone to locate a Russian convoy headed for the capital.
The Ukrainian army destroyed the convoy near Berezivka, 23 miles from Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/x4ZgBQvpd6— Chootchy Face ??????????????????????????????????????? (@chootchyface) June 8, 2022
Using the drone, Andrii Pokrasa recorded the coordinates of the Russian convoy and took photos of the Russian army. Then Andrii’s father sent all this information to the military, communicating with a territorial unit through social networks, and the Ukrainian forces managed to eliminate the Russian caravan with long-range artillery. The caravan was destroyed about 40 kilometers from kyiv..
Despite having contributed decisively to the defense of the Ukrainian territory —and being cataloged as a hero—, Andrii Pokrasa did not hide his discomfort at having also contributed to the death of Russian soldiers. “First, I was very happy. But there were also people who were there. They were squatters, but they were people all the same.said the young man.
According to the military commander who confirmed the story to Global News, there are a number of young drone owners joining the military for similar operations. “They feel free in a free land and therefore want to be part of it.”
Source: Observadora
