How we "clean" the sky. The story of an anti-aircraft gunner

Start of full-scale

On the morning of February 24, 2022, our air defense unit received its first mission.

For me, it was the first moment when something turned inside me.

Before the full-scale invasion began, I had never even dreamed that any enemy target could reach the Dnipro River.

But the reality surpassed the nightmares and quickly brought us back to our senses. Within a few days, we shot down the first two Russian missiles over the Dnipro River.

The first launches and the first missiles shot down were emotionally difficult. It was a heavy load, a powerful blow to the nervous system of all personnel.

But our spirits rose because we believed we could repel air attacks. Then we just built up our skills in destroying enemy targets.

How the sky is "cleaned"

We worked with the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system: we repelled massive or sudden Russian attacks, and moved. As soon as the targets suddenly appeared, we worked on them.

We need to think three or four moves ahead, both our actions and the actions of the enemy. In order to inflict more damage on the enemy, and to ensure that our citizens are harmed as little as possible by these strikes.

A certain zest is that we have the same technical base as the Russians, but we work differently. We were able to outsmart the enemy because we didn't act by the book. We were ready to work with an innovative approach. The winner will be the one who acts more cunningly.

Any equipment in war is a collective weapon. When an aerial target crosses the state border of Ukraine, everyone quickly takes up their positions – it takes a matter of seconds. Capturing and engaging the target.

The launch is literally instantaneous. Our guys even "cleaned" the airspace in this way so that their aircraft could operate and there would be no friendly fire.

Then we began a period of constant movement. It helped a lot that most of the personnel had good theoretical training. Before the full-scale invasion, we didn't have much practice – only live-fire exercises at training ranges, but they gave us some understanding of what to prepare for.

In 2022, September was the most powerful month for us. Before that, it was a continuous Groundhog Day – day and night simply merged, the only difference being the number of missiles. In September, it became very difficult – we hit a lot of targets, the enemy's attacks waned and then intensified.

Enemies on the Radar

Today, it no longer makes a difference to us what kind of target to shoot down – each of them is fatal. Even the same Zala or Orlan are dangerous reconnaissance aircraft that fly around and identify the point where a large, powerful ballistic charge will be launched.

When an airborne target is flying at you, you have to act quickly and in a coordinated manner. Everyone has to act quickly and smoothly. Because all combat work depends on everyone. We can't get caught up in emotions – they throw us off balance. That is why we tried not to get angry, but rather think about what we can do to identify targets and hit them more effectively.

All targets are different, each requires its own approach. "It makes no sense to shoot down a Shahda with a Buk or a 300. Such expensive missiles are more aimed at airplanes, helicopters or cruise missiles. And enemy UAVs are well practiced by our mobile fire groups. These are auxiliary air defense forces that have learned to perform their tasks perfectly.

Although, of course, we pay attention to who won what trophies among ourselves.

The more powerful the target, the harder it is to detect, the more expensive it is for the enemy, the more powerful a trophy it is.

We have shot down more than a hundred enemy targets of various classes: from Shaheds and other drones to X-101, Kalibr, X-59 cruise missiles, etc .

The key is to protect the population. The guys are very worried even about the rocket fragments that fall in the field. We are trying our best to cause as little damage as possible. That's why we are doing everything we can to destroy everything on approach, so that people don't hear even the most powerful explosions.

Six Calibers in Three Minutes

It was July 5, 2022. The anti-aircraft battle began like all the other battles.

We realized that a massive strike was coming through our area of responsibility when we started to destroy the second target. And immediately we found the third target, the fourth, the fifth – it was all happening very quickly.

When the air battle was over, we joked that the morning didn't start with coffee for us.

And then we started to summarize the results. We calculated that we had destroyed all the targets in our area of responsibility – a total of six Kalibr in three minutes.

Each downed missile is very motivating. When you realize that the damn thing didn't make it somewhere, you feel a huge relief.

It feels good.