'I have to be here ... I know my family understands'

In the forests near Kharkiv, Askold Krushelnycky speaks to soldiers spending Christmas with Ukraine’s drone brigade

- Askold Krushelnycky

In the two years since its formation, Ukraine’s 13th National Guard Brigade – called “Khartiya” – has gained a reputation not only for prowess in battle but also for its culture of respect and innovative approach to technology.

Khartiya helped to halt Russian forces who launched a surprise incursion last May that threatened to overwhelm Kharkiv, from where many of its original members come. The brigade was deployed to confront the Russian incursion around the village of Lyptsi, north of Ukraine’s second-largest city, last June; the forested area has since been a pivotal battleground.

And it was there last week that Khartiya announced it had fought a battle for the first time using only drones – both unmanned aerial vehicles and robotic ground vehicles that sprayed the enemy using remote-control machine guns and laid anti-tank mines, inflicting large casualties and preventing a Russian attack without the loss of a single Ukrainian life.

The brigade’s spokesperson, Sergeant Volodymyr Dehtyarev, said Khartiya is committed to creating a “new Ukrainian army” using Nato standards of training that, unlike the Soviet-style hierarchical structures that still linger in many parts of the Ukrainian military, show respect for every member of the fighting force and use education and discussion to cultivate, rather than suppress, individual initiative.

He said that the brigade had particularly benefited from British training that emphasised the need for every soldier, of whatever rank, to be able to take part in the planning of a mission or battle and, if necessary, to take over leadership from a superior trank.