De Pokrovsk
PTo go to the Pokrovsk front, in eastern Ukraine, you have to wait for gray hour, the Ukrainian equivalent of blue hour in a region with leaden skies. It is at dawn that daytime drones replace nocturnal ones and vice versa at dusk. While the tinsel of the night still envelopes the road, the driver activates the frequency jammer, on board against the Russian kamikaze drones carrying an explosive charge. The pick-up speeds through the town of Pokrovsk, dotted with ruins (read episode 36, “Requiem for Pokrovsk”), then accelerates again on the road leading to the position which shelters the reconnaissance drone pilots of the 68e Jaeger brigade “Oleksa Dovbush”. The soldier in the passenger seat scans the horizon, his hands gripping his machine gun. Suddenly, the vehicle brakes suddenly in front of a building. You must hurry to enter so as not to reveal a human presence.
Holed up in the basement, Vladislav, 28, observes the battlefield on the screen of the drone console he holds in the palm of his hands. The line of contact is a neighboring hamlet divided between Russian and Ukrainian forces. He flies over the house, partly destroyed, which sheltered them three weeks ago. “In 2024, the Russians have progressed rapidly”notes Lubomir, 41, the oldest of the four drone pilots. Since August, Moscow has torn off more than 2,000 km
Swiss
