via Associated Press
UKRAINE – 15-year-old Andrii Pokrasa helped stop the invading Russian army Kiev. Today he is “a real hero, a hero of Ukraine”, Commander Yurii Kasjanov told Canadian media. Global News.
On February 24, Vladimir Poutine declare it war on ukraine and brought Russian tanks into the country. Andrii Pokrasa lives near kyiv. Questioned by the American agency APhe explains that he used his drone with his father for a week to take the coordinates of a column of tanks arriving in the capital.
As his father Stanislav explains, it was Andrii who was piloting the machine. “I can use the drone, but my son does it much better than me. We immediately decided that he had to do it”, he says. But for Andrii, “it was one of the most frightening moments of (his) life”.
Decisive drones for the Ukrainian army
After the aerial reconnaissance, the teenager explains that he provided the “photos and the location of the Russian army. They specified the coordinates and transmitted them by walkie-talkie so that the artillery adjusted”. Thanks to this information, the Russians were stopped at Berezivka, about 40 kilometers west of kyiv.
The village of Andrii, which is not named for security reasons, was later the scene of clashes between Ukrainians and Russians. The teenager and his family left the town just before they occupied the premises. Andrii took refuge in Poland for some time with his mother, while Stanislav remained in Ukraine due to the general mobilization.
Back home, Andrii is proud. “I’m glad I destroyed someone. I am happy to have contributed, to have been able to do something. Not to have sat down and waited for it to happen”, he underlines.
According to Commander Yurii Kasjanov, thousands of young people served during the war thanks to information collected by drone or simply from their window. According to him, “they feel free, in a free country. They want to be part of it all.”
See also on The HuffPost: The tribute of the Ukrainian president to the French journalist who died in Ukraine