The defenders of the heavenly Ukraine in sums struck in a ruthless battle

As the evening light rejected a handful of Ukrainian troops appeared from the grass to face an uneven battle. Their mission – to remove the 21st century drones with weapons designed in the dying days of World War I.

In the northeastern region of sums in Ukraine bordering Russia, it is a night battle.

Just after we joined the troops, there was danger and tension and adrenaline on earth in the sky.

The codente-name commander Jaeger-bed on a screen showing clusters of red dots, each showing Iranian-developed Shahd drone, one of Russia’s key weapons. By the early evening, there were already 30 in the sky over sums and the neighboring Chernihiv region.

Two flat trucks were expelled into a meadow – on the back of every heavy machine gun and artilleryman, scanning the sky. The trucks were surrounded by troops, light machine guns ready.

We could hear the propellement of the propellers before we could see the drone – barely visible as it is cut through the sky. The troops opened fire – all the rifles blazed in harmony – but the drone disappeared into the distance. These weapons with a low cost of long distances terrorize Ukraine.

As often at war, there were a valley of humor. “You will find out when the next drone comes when this short man is upset,” Jeger said, pointing to one of his team.

As the darkness closed, the drones continued to come and the troops continued to try – sending a tracker fire piercing the sky. But how do they feel when these suicide drones pass?

“Well, it’s not very good,” Sombreli says, looking and looking. “You feel a slight sadness, but to be honest – as you have seen – you have no time for emotions. One enters and another can come just behind it. Work in this rhythm. If it is removed – well, if not, you know that there are other teams that will also engage it.”

He and his people are a “mobile fire unit” of 117 Territorial Defense Brigade of Ukraine – all locals try to protect not only their hometown but also their country. Most Russian drones fly through this region and deeper in Ukraine.

“They come to massive waves, often flying at different altitudes,” Jeger says. “When there is a heavy cloud cover, they fly over the clouds and we can’t see them. And it’s very difficult to find them when it’s raining.”

A hundred shaheed drones per night is a standard for sums.

His unit includes a farmer (“I do something else in the fields now,” he jokes) and a builder. Jeger himself is a former forest ranger and a mixed martial arts fighter.

Now he is fighting an enemy he can hardly see.

“It’s the same thing every day, again and again,” he says. “For us it’s just like Earth Day.”

“The worst is that years have passed,” adds a turban, the builder, “and we have no idea how long it will last.”

Many of the drones in the sky over sums that evening turned to the capital Kyiv. Jeger and his men knew him. So we did. Knowledge was freezing.

Air raid alert warned the residents of Kyiv from incoming drones. Russia has directed more than 300 in the capital overnight, according to Ukrainian Air Force, trying to flood its air protection. Six places were hit by the morning and the victims were recovered from the ruins. In the coming days The death issue climbed to 30S

In the fourth summer of the full -scale war of Ukraine, the fields around the amounts are dotted with corn and sunflowers, are not yet in flowering, and the harvest of the Dragon teeth – triangles of concrete that can stop the reservoirs in their tracks.

The picture was very different last fall. Ukrainian troops had turned the masses with a cross -border attack on Russia, conquering territory in the neighboring Kursk region.

By March this year, most were expelled, although the military commander of Ukraine said that he still had some territory there recently. Until May, President Zelenski warned that 50,000 Russian troops had been massaged “in the direction of amounts”.

By June, more than 200 villages and settlements were evacuated in sums, as the Kremlin’s people slowly broke their way forward.

President Putin wants a “buffer zone” along the border and talks about the threat to the city.

“The city … is the next, regional center,” he said recently. “We are not tasked with taking amounts, but I don’t exclude it.” He claims that his forces are already up to 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) inside the region.

Warning: The following section contains suffering details

The leader of the army of Ukraine, Gen. Alexander Sirsky, claims that his troops have stopped the Russian advance, but the war is already closed to 37 -year -old Margary Husakova, who threatened her village. She warned her sister not to come because there were explosions.

“She came anyway,” says Margarya, “and everything was fine for a month, quietly and calmly, until we got on this bus.”

On the morning of May 17, the sisters went with other relatives to travel to the city.

“I remember coming, we fell on the bus, how we laughed, we were happy,” says Margarya. “Then we started leaving and it happened.”

The bus was torn by a Russian drone, In an attack that killed nine people – all civilians – including her mother, uncle and sister.

Margary was pulled by the remains of a broken right hand – now it is held together by steel bars.

She is tormented by what she lost and what she saw. Her description is graphical.

“I opened my eyes and there was no bus,” she said, and her voice began to break. “I looked around and my sister’s head was detached. My mom too, she was lying there, hitting the temple. My uncle had fallen from the bus, his brain was exposed.”

We met at the reception for evacuated sand buildings in sums. The margarita was sitting outside on a wooden bench, looking for a cigarette comfort. She told me that she was planning to leave for another relative’s home, but she feared that her eight children may not be safe.

“Maybe we’ll have to escape even more,” she said, adding, “It’s scary everywhere.”

“I’m horrified, not for myself, but for the children. I have to save them. That’s important.”

As we spoke the cheese of an air attack, he called over her head – the sound so familiar that Margary did not answer. None else around us. “We are now running for explosions,” Ukrainian journalist explained, “and only if they are strong and close.”

There are few tales in the amounts to end the fire, let alone the termination of the most war in Europe since 1945.

US President Donald Trump no longer claims that he can deliver peace to Ukraine in a day. He got involved in a more new war, bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

Conversations between Russia and Ukraine have only delivered the exchange of prisoners and the return of bodies. President Putin seems strong and raises his demands.

With the summer sun, those who are trying to save Ukraine still expect more winters of war above the head. We followed an uneven path deep in the forest to meet troops fresh from the front lines. They receive a refreshing course in remote training skills. Borkov 35-year-old with a shaved head and full beard was among the group-Facility “student”.

“I think the war will not end next year or two,” he told me. “And even if it ends in six months with some kind of ceasefire, it will start again in four or five years. President Putin has imperialist ambitions.”

War inflicts wounds – seen and unprecedented.

“Student” sent his family abroad for safety shortly after the full -scale invasion of Russia in February 2022 and since then he has not been able to see his two daughters.

He and his wife are already divorced. Other soldiers we met also talked about broken relationships and marriages that fastened under tension.

The student summarizes war as “blood, dirt and sweat” and does not try to cover up the costs. “We joined our battalion as a platoon of 30 neighbors,” he told me.

“Today, only four of us remain alive.”

Additional reporting from Wietske Burema, Moose Campbell and Volodymyr Lozhko