Latest news with #Mykhailo
The Star
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Fighting drones in the dark
CLAD in khaki fatigues, the Ukrainian volunteers lounged on a concrete terrace as dusk swallowed the surrounding fields. Music trickled from a phone, mingling with bursts of laughter – a fleeting ease before what they had been warned would be a 'hot night'. They were part of a civilian unit stationed in Pereiaslav, a town 80km southeast of Kyiv, tasked with guarding the skies against incoming Russian drones. Their weapons? Ageing machine guns supplied by the Ukrainian army. Their mission? Shoot down whatever they could. As usual, the crew – made up of university professors, builders, salespeople – stood ready waiting for the signal. At 11.35pm, Mykhailo's phone rang. He picked up, then shouted, 'Let's go!' The chase was on. Members of a Ukrainian volunteer air-defence unit checking out a newly-received Browning machine gun near Pereiaslav. — Constant Meheut/The New York Times Mykhailo and two others leapt into a grey pickup truck and sped off through narrow roads into the countryside. Minutes later, they reached an open field, jumped out and began setting up. Two tripods were quickly readied for machine guns. A third held night-vision binoculars and a laser. Mykhailo – like others, identified only by his first name for security reasons – glanced at a tablet on the truck's bonnet. Its screen was lit with a swarm of red triangles sweeping across Ukraine: Russian drones, several dozen kilometres away. 'Three heading our way,' said Mykhailo, a trade union representative by day. 'Let's wait.' As Russia intensifies its drone assaults on Ukraine, volunteer crews like this one are spending sleepless nights trying to push them back. That same night, Russia launched a record-breaking 472 drones and decoys, followed by another wave of over 400, as well as 40 cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force – one of the war's largest barrages so far. Analysts say the tactic is deliberate: wear down Ukrainian air defences with drones, then follow up with missiles that are harder to intercept. The drones themselves have evolved. They now fly higher – out of reach of older weapons – and change routes often, using decoys to confuse defenders. To counter this, Ukraine uses a patchwork of solutions – everything from Second World War-era machine guns to cutting-edge Western systems, and electronic jamming to disrupt navigation. Kyiv, frequently targeted, has been largely protected by powerful US-made Patriot systems. But the city's dependence on unpaid, lightly equipped volunteers highlights just how stretched Ukraine's defences have become. The unit in Pereiaslav, a town of 20,000 on the Dnieper river, was formed in mid-2023. Sofia, a former journalist now working full time with the crew, said locals began noticing drones skimming low over the river to avoid radar. 'We saw them, heard them and understood we needed to do something,' she said. 'All we needed was guns and ammo.' Sofia, left, a former journalist, now works full time with the Pereiaslav air-defense unit, which was formed in summer 2023. The army sent some old weapons and gave basic training. Everything else – uniforms, fuel, food, first-aid kits – was provided by the volunteers themselves. For two years, they've balanced day jobs with 12-hour night shifts. Caffeine, they say, is their most reliable ally. Oleh Voroshylovskyi, the unit commander, explained that Kyiv's air defence is structured in three concentric rings. His unit covers about 32km of the outermost layer – intercepting drones early and alerting the inner rings. Since forming, the unit has relied on WWII-era Maxim machine guns and 1950s-era Czechoslovakian Uk vz. 59s. 'They may be old, but they're effective,' said Voroshylovskyi, standing near downed drones displayed at their base – a building still marked by Ukraine's Soviet past, including a bust of Lenin turned to face the wall. 'The Maxim was once used to shoot down small planes. How is a drone different?' he asked. After downing some 30 drones, the team recently received a more powerful US-designed Browning machine gun, mounted on a truck. Training is ongoing. 'We had been dreaming of it,' said Sofia, watching as the team tested the weapon. Until it's ready, Mykhailo's crew makes do with what they have. That night, after setting up, they waited in the pitch-black silence under a crescent moon. The stillness was broken only by croaking toads and hooting owls – and then, distant gunfire. 'Look! It's getting busy over there,' Mykhailo said, pointing to the north, where red tracer rounds streaked the sky and spotlights swept overhead. Soon after, a low mechanical buzz – like a lawnmower – hummed in the air. A Russian drone. Their radar didn't register it, but the sound was unmistakable. 'It's coming!' shouted Yaroslav, another crew member. They scrambled behind their mounted guns. Yaroslav rotated the binoculars, scanning the sky on a grainy black-and-white feed. The drone veered west, circling. They couldn't see it, so they held fire – unwilling to waste ammunition. 'Russian drones used to fly at about a thousand metres – we could hit that,' said Yaroslav. 'Now they're often flying at 2,000m. Our weapons can't reach that.' The crew relayed the drone's location to other units and stayed ready. Yaroslav, an IT professor who had served on an exam jury earlier that day, said their role often involves observing more than shooting – and increasingly, it's become dangerous work. Russian drones, he said, are now targeting air-defence teams. As the hours passed, they fell into a familiar rhythm – tracking swarms within a 190km radius, moving into position, and watching red tracers light up the sky. By sunrise, they hadn't fired a shot. But the results of what slipped through were visible online – explosions in Kyiv, buildings ablaze, civilians wounded. 'A classic night,' Yaroslav said, his eyes bloodshot from fatigue. — ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Boston Globe
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Helping save Kyiv from drones: Volunteers, caffeine, and vintage guns
Advertisement The chase was on. Mykhailo and the other two members of his crew jumped into a gray pickup parked at the foot of the terrace and sped off, racing through narrow roads into the countryside. They pulled up beside an open field a few minutes later and jumped out. Moving quickly, they set up three tripods — two for machine guns, the third for night-vision binoculars and a laser. Then, Mykhailo — who, like other crew members in this article, asked to be identified by only his first name for security reasons, according to military protocol — glanced at a tablet set on the pickup's hood. Its screen lit up with a swarm of red triangles sweeping across a live map of Ukraine; they showed Russian attack drones, several dozen miles away. Advertisement 'Three heading our way,' said Mykhailo, who is a trade union representative by day. 'Let's wait.' While Russia intensifies its drone assaults on Ukraine, volunteer crews such as the one in Pereiaslav are spending sleepless nights trying to repel them. As the crew deployed last Saturday, Russia launched a record-breaking 472 drones and decoys at Ukraine. This Friday, Russia sent off another swarm of more than than 400 drones and decoys, in addition to nearly 40 cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles at towns and cities across the country, according to the Ukrainian air force, in one of the largest barrages of the war. Military analysts say Russia uses drone swarms to wear down Ukraine's air defenses before unleashing missiles that are far harder to intercept. Russia has also improved its tactics. Its drones now often fly high, out of reach of machine guns, before swooping on their targets at full speed. The drones constantly change route and include many decoys to confuse Ukrainian forces. To shoot down drones and missiles, Ukraine relies on a vast network of units armed with everything from antiquated machine guns to cutting-edge Western air-defense systems. It also uses electronic jamming to scramble navigation systems. Kyiv, a frequent target of Russian air attacks, has held strong thanks in part to crews manning powerful US-made Patriot air-defense systems that can intercept guided missiles. But the city's reliance on unpaid, lightly equipped volunteer crews to shoot down drones shows just how stretched its air defenses are. The unit in Pereiaslav, a quiet town of 20,000 on the Dnieper River, was formed in summer 2023. Sofia, a former journalist now working full time with the air-defense crew, said locals noticed Russian drones skimming low along the river to evade radar. Advertisement 'We saw them, heard them, and understood we needed to do something,' Sofia said. 'All we needed was guns and ammo.' They pulled together a team of civilian volunteers, including women, and contacted the Ukrainian army. The military sent them some old guns and provided basic training. Everything else — uniforms, bulletproof vests, first-aid kits, fuel, food — is at the volunteers' expense. For the past two years, they have juggled day jobs with grueling 12-hour night shifts chasing drones. Caffeine, they say, has become their most reliable ally. Oleh Voroshylovskyi, the commander of the unit, explained that Kyiv's air defense was structured in three concentric rings. His unit covers about 20 miles of the outermost layer, tasked with taking down incoming drones early and warning the rings closer to the capital what's heading their way. For nearly two years, the unit has relied on World War II-era Maxim machine guns and several Uk vz. 59 machine guns, developed by Czechoslovakia in the 1950s, to bring down drones. 'They may be old, but they're effective,' said Voroshylovskyi, showing off the weapons at their base, a large building where downed Russian drones were displayed only a few feet from a relic of Ukraine's Soviet past — a large white bust of Vladimir Lenin, now turned to face the corner. After mounting the guns on tripods during last week's attack, the team waited in the silence of a pitch-black night, lit only by a crescent moon and a scatter of stars. The stillness was occasionally broken by the croak of toads and the hoot of owls. Advertisement Then, suddenly, the tak-tak-tak of machine guns echoed from the north. 'Look! It's getting busy over there,' Mykhailo said, pointing to red tracers cutting through the night, accompanied by spotlights sweeping the sky. Later, the whir of rotor blades hummed overhead — Ukrainian helicopters were chasing the drones. 'They're not leaving us anything,' Mykhailo joked. After about an hour of waiting, a familiar sound from the north made the crew freeze. It was a grinding buzz like a lawn mower, signifying a Russian attack drone. Their radar did not show it, but the sound left no doubt. 'It's coming!' shouted Yaroslav, one of the crew members. They scrambled into position behind the mounted guns. Yaroslav rotated the night binoculars, which fed a grainy black-and-white image of the sky onto a small connected screen. The buzz grew louder, then curved west, circling around them. Unable to spot the drone, the crew held its fire, unwilling to waste precious rounds. By the time dawn broke shortly before 5 a.m., crew members had not fired a shot. But the damage from dozens of drones that had slipped through was already clear on the social media feeds they had been scanning — explosions in Kyiv, buildings ablaze across the country, wounded civilians rushed to hospitals. 'A classic night,' said Yaroslav, his eyes red with sleeplessness. This article originally appeared in
New York Times
08-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Helping Save Kyiv From Drones: Volunteers, Caffeine and Vintage Guns
Clad in khaki fatigues, the Ukrainian volunteers lounged on a concrete terrace as dusk swallowed the surrounding fields. Music trickled from a phone, mingling with bursts of laughter — a fleeting ease before what they had been warned would be a 'hot night.' They were members of one of many civilian units guarding the skies around the capital, Kyiv, on a recent Saturday night, their job to shoot down incoming Russian drones using old machine guns supplied by the Ukrainian Army. As they do every night, the volunteers — university professors, builders, salesmen — stood ready at their base in Pereiaslav, a town 50 miles southeast of Kyiv, waiting for the signal to deploy. At 11:35 p.m., Mykhailo's phone rang. He picked it up, then shouted, 'Let's go!' The chase was on. Mykhailo and the other two members of his crew jumped into a gray pickup parked at the foot of the terrace and sped off, racing through narrow roads into the countryside. They pulled up beside an open field a few minutes later and jumped out. Moving quickly, they set up three tripods — two for machine guns, the third for night-vision binoculars and a laser. Then, Mykhailo — who, like other crew members in this article, asked to be identified by only his first name for security reasons, according to military protocol — glanced at a tablet set on the pickup's hood. Its screen lit up with a swarm of red triangles sweeping across a live map of Ukraine; they showed Russian attack drones, several dozen miles away. 'Three heading our way,' said Mykhailo, who is a trade union representative by day. 'Let's wait.' While Russia intensifies its drone assaults on Ukraine, volunteer crews like the one in Pereiaslav are spending sleepless nights trying to repel them. As the crew deployed last Saturday, Russia launched a record-breaking 472 drones and decoys at Ukraine. This Friday, Russia sent off another swarm of more than than 400 drones and decoys, in addition to nearly 40 cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles at towns and cities across the country, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, in one of the largest barrages of the war. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mykhailo Mudryk ban latest as Chelsea star spotted in Wroclaw ahead of Conference League final
Mykhailo Mudryk is in Wroclaw ahead of the Conference League final, but will not be eligible to play in the match as he remains suspended after failing a doping test in December. Video has emerged on social media of the Ukrainian winger meeting supporters in a restaurant called 'Whiskey in the Jar', taking photos and signing autographs. Despite arriving in Wroclaw in full Chelsea kit ahead of the rest of the squad, it is not clear whether Mudryk will stay in the team hotel or if the club funded his travel. Enzo Maresca said pre-match that he was not aware the Ukrainian had travelled. Mudryk had been key to Chelsea's Conference League campaign, charting three goals and three asists as he played every minute of the club's first four league phase fixtures, but has not appeared for the club since scoring in a 4-1 win over Heidenheim in November. He will miss out as Chelsea look to lift a first title since 2021, facing Real Betis in the final. Mudryk in polaaand 🔥🔥 — CFC Pics (@Mohxmmad) May 27, 2025 Mudryk was provisionally suspended after failing a routine doping test in December. He is now awaiting the results of a secondary 'B sample' test, but could face a lengthy suspension if he is again found to be guilty. He has continually denied the reports, citing contamination, and went so far as to take a lie detector test to prove his innocence, which he reportedly passed. After reports broke of Mudryk's suspension, the player released a statement, which read: 'I can confirm that I have been notified that a sample I provided to The FA contained a banned substance. 'This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules, and am working closely with my team to investigate how this could have happened. 'I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon. I cannot say any more now due to the confidentiality of the process, but I will as soon as I can.' His social media channels have been quiet since. Chelsea confirmed that they would cooperate with investigations into Mudryk's suspension. A statement released in December read: 'Both the Club and Mykhailo fully support The FA's testing programme and all our players, including Mykhailo, are regularly tested. 'Mykhailo has confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned substances. Both Mykhailo and the Club will now work with the relevant authorities to establish what has caused the adverse finding.' When first asked about Mudryk's suspension, Maresca said he fully trusted the player, saying he believed he was innocent, and that 'there is not anything to add apart from the club, the coaching staff and all the people inside the training ground, we trust and support Misha.' 'When these kind of things happen you need to support your player in all the aspects. We believe Misha, we trust Misha, we support Misha.' He later added that he would give the player space to 'disconnect' as he awaited the results of a B sample: 'In this moment, it's also good he can disconnect a little bit from the situation. The last time I spoke with him, we tried to support him. Now we are just waiting.' Speaking from Wroclaw ahead of the Conference League final, though, Maresca was unaware that Mudryk had travelled to Poland but happy he had come to support the team. 'To be honest, I just, I don't know,' he said. 'He is here or he is coming? He's here? I'm happy for Misha [Mudryk] to be here.' It remains unclear whether Mudryk will be able to participate in trophy celebrations on the pitch should Chelsea beat Real Betis in the final.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Two months in a coma: story of Ukrainian defender severely wounded in Russia's Kursk Oblast
Mykhailo Vovchyna, a 33-year-old military volunteer, sustained a severe injury in Russia's Kursk Oblast when a Russian shell exploded right next to him. Due to a major brain contusion, he spent two months in a coma, but he is now starting to get back on his feet. Source: First Medical Union of Lviv Details: Mykhailo was born in Lviv Oblast. Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he worked as a cook abroad. In early March 2022, he returned to Ukraine to defend his homeland. Mykhailo joined the 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade, initially serving as an artilleryman and later becoming a drone operator. In January 2025, Mykhailo was injured in Kursk Oblast. He and his comrades were returning from a position when their vehicle broke down. As they tried to fix it, a Russian drone spotted them and dropped a munition, which exploded right next to Mykhailo. The fragments injured his head and back. "I remember the flash and being loaded into the Hummer [pickup truck], but I couldn't open my eyes," said Mykhailo. "I thought there was something wrong with them, but it was blood. I also remember being taken for evacuation." Mykhailo before getting injured. Photo: First Medical Union of Lviv Mykhailo sustained a severe head injury, including a brain contusion. He fell into a coma after he reached the field hospital. Mykhailo was later operated on in the city of Sumy, and then Kyiv doctors took over his medical treatment. In March, still unconscious and on life support, he was transferred to Lviv. Mykhailo regained consciousness two months after the injury. During his month-long stay in the anaesthesiology and intensive care unit, he worked with a physical therapist and a speech therapist. This was followed by more active rehabilitation. Currently, Mykhailo is working with an occupational therapist to improve cognitive functions and self-care skills, and with a physical therapist to build muscle strength in his lower limbs, overcome contracture in his hip joint and walk. "The patient does not miss a single session and is already showing good results," said the First Medical Association of Lviv. "What motivates him most is his girlfriend Iryna, who has been by his side through all of it." Mykhailo is on a long road to rehabilitation. He still requires two operations: one to close a skull bone defect with a titanium plate and facial plastic surgery. Background: Earlier, we reported the story of defender Andrii Sydorenko, who sustained a severe blast injury that resulted in him losing his eyesight and his left leg. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
