Comrades saved his leg: a police sniper from Mykolaiv region trains drone pilots
After five months of rehabilitation, the fighter is preparing to return to the east
A police major with the call sign Sniper, who serves in the special-purpose police rifle battalion of the Mykolaiv region, after being wounded and undergoing about five months of rehabilitation, now trains new drone operators. In March this year he and his colleagues were hit by guided aerial bombs. According to the fighter, the correct actions of his comrades saved his leg. He will soon head to the east again.
In the Mykolaiv region police the law enforcement officer has been serving for 25 years. Of those, he worked as a forensic expert for 15 years in the region’s territorial unit. During the full-scale war he joined the rifle battalion and immediately began learning to operate drones.
For two years now, instead of searching for material evidence at crime scenes his work has been connected with reconnaissance at heights of several hundred meters. With the help of UAVs he finds enemy positions, concentrations of enemy equipment and monitors movement of enemy forces. At the same time he helps young colleagues master this work.
Most combat missions Sniper has carried out in the Donetsk region. Upon detecting the enemy, he transmits precise coordinates to the defenders, and then observes the results of their fire from the air. He regards every hit at the coordinates he provided as an achievement. There is no usual workday at war, he says: aerial reconnaissance is conducted around the clock, replacing each other.
About his first flights and the experience he gradually gained, Sniper says:
“Of course, at first it was difficult, but then I understood how to detect them, what to pay attention to, and I independently changed the algorithm of my flights. When I first saw Russian forces from the sky — my hands trembled, but now it’s a kind of thrill, and pride in a job well done.”
The first combat sortie remained particularly memorable for the police officer. Initially the enemy was five kilometers from their positions, but within a few days the occupiers had approached to a distance of just over a kilometer. Despite this, the defenders held the position and continued reconnaissance flights.
Experienced police officers from the Odesa region served alongside him. They helped him learn the new job. According to Sniper, the support of comrades in such conditions carries special weight.
“Seeing a drone at work and piloting it are completely different things. I’m interested in learning the technical characteristics of different drone models. It’s necessary to keep learning all the time, because lives at the front depend on my knowledge and attentiveness,” explains Sniper.
In March this year the enemy struck the fighter and his colleagues with several guided aerial bombs. The police officer did not notice his own wound immediately: at first they began to help a wounded comrade.
“At first I didn’t even realize I was injured. They immediately began providing first aid to one of my comrades, and only later did I see my wounded leg. My rehabilitation lasted about five months, and I did not lose the limb only thanks to the correct actions of my colleagues,” recalls Sniper.
Now he trains police officers who have just joined the rifle battalion: he teaches theory and helps them practically understand the characteristics of different types of drones. To his students Sniper stresses:
“What seems difficult today will be a routine part of the job at the front.”
Before his upcoming trip to the east the fighter tries to spend every minute off duty with his family. At home he is awaited by his wife and three children. His youngest daughter is only four years old. Thoughts of his loved ones, the police officer says, motivate and support him when he is far from home.
Source: Mykolaiv Region Police.
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