‘Find and destroy' – how Ukraine's own Peaky Blinders mastered the art of bomber drones

Yahoo

06-06-2025

Editor's note: In accordance with the security protocols of the Ukrainian military, soldiers featured in this story are identified by first names and callsigns only.
DONETSK OBLAST – From the moment the vehicles duck into pre-prepared positions in the leafy treeline to the first dead Russian soldiers, less than twenty minutes pass.
\With the morning sun steadily rising after the team of six complete their short commute to work, the equipment is set up in a clockwork-like rhythm: long telescopic antennas are raised to just peak out of the treeline and sway in the light wind, cables are unravelled, and camping chairs are laid out so the men can work in absolute comfort.
Out of heavy-duty plastic travel cases emerge the soldiers' weapons of choice: DJI Mavic drones, available all over the world in shops and of the kind used by civilian video bloggers and aerial photographers everywhere.
Here in Donetsk Oblast, just west of the embattled city of Pokrovsk and only a few kilometers away from Russian positions, lost time means missed opportunities to stop the enemy creeping forward to Ukrainian lines.
When your unit is consistently deployed to the hottest parts of the front line to do exactly that, every minute counts.
Commander Oleksandr 'Zalizniak' is the first to fly out, with an unassuming little munition strapped to the bottom of his Mavic.
Zalizniak leads an elite Ukrainian drone unit known as the Peaky Blinders, named after the hit television show which inspired the group's custom-made camouflage flat caps that they often wear on positions.
The unit was formed from a group of friends from Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, and its surrounds. Consisting of businessmen, lawyers, local officials, and IT specialists, Peaky Blinders now serve under the banner of the Omega special operations unit of Ukraine's National Guard.
Although they also use the more well-known first-person view (FPV) drones, the Peaky Blinders' specialty is the use of Mavics as bomber drones to target expendable Russian foot soldiers, which have become the core of Moscow's assault tactics in Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent spent a full day embedded with the unit in late April.
Low on battery and needing to return soon if he doesn't hit a target, Zalizniak spots movement in a treeline with thin foliage cover – two Russian troops, carrying something large between them.
As commander and the most experienced Mavic pilot, it doesn't take long for Zalizniak to close in on his target, hovering over 50 meters above as he releases the bomb with the push of a button.
The result is spectacular: a red-hot fireball bursts out of the large item carried by the Russian soldiers, which turned out to be a fuel canister.
Both infantrymen, wounded from the blast itself, are quickly engulfed in flames. The drone lingers to watch their last moments, burning alive among the trees on another country's soil.
'Look at the two of them, they burned up at work,' says the commander with the wry small and dark humor that only someone who does his kind of job could have.
Without enough battery to return, Zalizniak's drone is lost, but it's a small price to pay for what was achieved, as those two soldiers' journey toward Ukrainian lines was ended, forever.
'The protection of our infantry is our main driving ideology and our motivation, so that as many of them as possible will one day return home' he said.
'The way I see it, for this whole war, we haven't actually killed anyone, instead we have saved hundreds of lives.'
Read also: Russia pushes forward in Donetsk Oblast, threatening Ukrainian pocket around Toretsk
After the initial adrenaline of the double hit on the Russian infantryman, the Peaky Blinders find time for a morning coffee and settle into the simple routine that will continue for the rest of the day: change batteries and attach bombs, fly out, look for the enemy, drop bombs, return, and repeat.
Looking at the team spread out among the treeline, it is immediately clear that this is no ordinary drone unit.
Instead of a dugout, they prefer to work from camping chairs out in the fresh air, especially when weather allows.
More strikingly, nobody is watching the live reconnaissance streams of the front line that have become ubiquitous in every Ukrainian drone team or command post.
Instead, the team consists solely of those who fly drones and those who arm them.
In their eyes, there is no need for more; the Peaky Blinders' philosophy is underpinned by their motto: To find and destroy.
Compared to the work of a standard strike FPV team, where a target is first found by reconnaissance teams, only after which a drone is sent out to hit it, this unit does both on the same flight, giving them the ability to strike immediately after spotting an enemy soldier.
'We made our own antennas with amplification, and we can now fly out 8–9 kilometers,' said Zalizniak.
'Thanks to that, we're getting a big result — we're flying into their rear, where they don't expect to see us. But because of that, we're also losing drones.'
After moving positions before lunch due to neighboring electronic warfare activity disrupting their work, the four pilots once again fly out into the Russian rear, but in the midday heat, the Russian soldiers are nowhere to be seen out and about.
Often, Zalizniak told the Kyiv Independent, when conditions are too good for drone flying, Russian soldiers stay put in basements or other forms of cover.
When targets are less keen to come out into the open, one of the most important skills of any aspiring Mavic bomber pilot becomes spotting even the slightest movement on the screen of their remote control.
Unlike the cheap cameras on expendable FPV drones, Mavic drones are equipped with high-definition cameras, and some have significant zoom abilities, making them the perfect tool for such joint reconnaissance/bomber missions.
"This is where I find creativity,' said pilot Maksym 'Mytrych.'
'Right here — in the very process of fighting the enemy. It's incredibly interesting — how to approach, from which side. For me, it's like a kind of dance."
These Russian assaults represent fresh attempts by Moscow to deepen the pincers around the embattled city of Pokrovsk, which has been the central hotspot of the front line since last autumn.
East of Pokrovsk, after a period of stability over early spring, Russian forces broke across the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka highway, creating a threatening salient that continues to be expanded.
Here on the western flank of the city however, Moscow has much less success, stuck just a few kilometers east of the border with Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
But, according to commander Zalizniak, this is not for a lack of trying.
'The enemy has been very active since we've been working here and has been carrying out assaults the whole time,' he said.
'Sometimes they were weaker, sometimes stronger, but they have been happening constantly — from morning to evening, and even at night.'
Small, nimble, and easy to deploy quickly, the Peaky Blinders are consistently deployed to some of the hottest sectors of the front line, specialized as they are in repelling enemy infantry assaults.
Before being deployed to Donetsk Oblast in the fall of 2024, they played a crucial role in bogging down Russia's surprise cross-border offensive on Kharkiv Oblast, headed for the city that the unit was formed to defend in the first place.
Now, with Russian forces increasingly relying on waves of squad-level infantry attacks to overwhelm overstretched Ukrainian lines, their work is crucial in keeping key sectors stable.
In conditions of an ever-deepening crisis in infantry strength across the Ukrainian military, it has become more important than ever to eliminate Russian assault groups with drones and artillery long before they reach Ukrainian positions.
Over five days of the group's work near Pokrovsk in spring, according to Zalizniak, the Peaky Blinders stopped 106 enemy soldiers in their tracks; numbers higher than most entire specialized drone battalions in standard Ukrainian brigades, achieved by a team of only six in the field.
On top of their unique team set-up the Peaky Blinders have one more trick up their sleeve that sets their work above most.
Often, bomb-dropping squads arm their Mavics with hand grenades or grenade launcher roads, but, seeing the need for a more effective munition, the unit collaborated with a local manufacturer to produce the gruesomely named Foot Crusher.
Deceptively light but packed with hundreds of small metal balls, the bomb usually does enough damage to stop a Russian soldier in their tracks, even if the drop does not land a direct hit.
Read also: 'He's mine' – How Ukraine's ace drone unit hunts Russian soldiers near Kupiansk
As the day goes on, moments with the sound of a drone above — whether a Mavic, FPV, or larger fixed-wing drone — not present are few and far between.
Most are friendly, but if there is any doubt, the team quickly drops what they are doing, grabbing their rifles and portable electronic warfare units to face down the enemy threat.
Around 3 p.m. comes an attack from weapons that can not be shot down or evaded — glide bombs. The first group lands further away, but the second is aimed right at the treeline.
'Everyone in the trench!' yells Zalizniak, as the team ducks for cover, 'and don't forget to start recording!'
The explosions — three of them — tear through the air and send ripples through the ground as the soldiers wait for the all clear.
Taking shelter in a narrow trench, Artem 'Deputat,' who today is responsible for preparing the Foot Crushers, takes a moment to go over the videos recorded from the day's work so far.
'That's it, he's wounded for sure,' he says, watching the recording of a hit on a Russian soldier. This time, it's the handiwork of Dmytro 'Advokat' ('Lawyer' in Ukrainian), who was a lawyer in Kharkiv in civilian life and now continues to run a large volunteer operation alongside his service.
'100% . Look, he froze — see?,' said Deputat, watching the playback. 'My hands are shaking from happiness.'
After a successful hit, the team makes sure to save the video to post to their unit's social media accounts later.
With their trademark flat caps, endearing back story, and proof of effective work, the Peaky Blinders have developed an unmistakable brand as a unit, recently launching an online merchandise store where anyone can buy hoodies and tee-shirts emblazoned with the unit's logo and pictures of the iconic Foot Crusher.
As gruesome as they can be, videos of drone hits have become a key part of the information fabric of this war on both sides.
This macabre collection of greatest hits fulfils several purposes: proof of the unit's effective work attracts donations for drones and supplies, gives a morale boost for viewers all over Ukraine, and shows the real fate of Russians who enlist to make a quick buck.
Compared to the more common FPV footage circulating the net, recordings from Mavics come with the advantage of the high-quality image, making it possible to make out the whites in the eyes of Russian soldiers in the last moments of their lives.
'One Russian sent a video (to the unit's account) and wrote, 'Hi, that's me in the video,'' recalled Zalizniak, 'he recognized himself in the footage — he was seriously wounded there.
According to Zalizniak, the Russian soldier was from a 'Storm V' unit, made of convicts from the Russian prison system often coerced into service as expendable assault troops with a promise of a pardon.
'He was injured and became disabled afterwards, but he thanked our pilot for giving him a 'white ticket' (exemption from service), and for not finishing him off,' he added.
Read also: As Russia's fiber optic drones flood the battlefield, Ukraine is racing to catch up
On the horizon to the south, dark clouds begin to unload rain as the day's work slowly comes to an end.
While Mytrych, Deputat and the others begin packing up, Zalizniak and Advokat continue flying until the last possible moments: dusk tends to be the time for increased Russian activity as Ukrainian drone teams transition from day to night shifts.
While most drone units often spend several days at position at a time before resting, the Peaky Blinders commute in and out on a daily basis, laser-focused on their specialized task of bombing Russian soldiers by day.
While they don't have to sleep out in the field, the routine is exhausting in its own way, but worth it, said Deputat.
'Whether you like it or not, the main thing is that you see the result of this work,' he said.
'You see your comrades who are devoted to this task, and you realize that you're all focused on one shared, effective outcome that you're achieving together.'
On the drive back to their base in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the team crosses open fields that will remain unplanted and unharvested this summer.
Their vehicles are protected with electronic warfare devices for the short but deadly drive, but now, with the advent of unjammable Russian fiber optic drones, they always have to keep an eye out for hunters in the air.
With Russian advances gaining pace across key sectors of the front line over May and into June, soldiers here have little faith in renewed attempts to reach at least a ceasefire through negotiations.
Instead, said Deputat, groups like the Peaky Blinders see clearly that the only real efforts for peace are forged by their own hands, by stopping Russia here on the battlefield.
'In truth, I've come to understand one golden essence and truth: decisions aren't made back there in offices — they're made here, on the ground, locally,' he said, 'that's the objective truth of the modern world.'
'I want peace, but seeing the efforts made for the so-called resolution of the conflict, I don't see that peace.'
You can watch the video version of this story here:
Hi, this is Francis Farrell, the author of this piece. With the increasing saturation of drones in the sky, I can't say for sWe could just stay in Kyiv and report from there, but we go to the war regularly, to bring it back to you before it comes knocking on your door for real.
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