Something you almost never see when you look skywards in Ukraine is an aircraft, and if you do it’s a fair bet that it’s not good news.
Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion kicked off over three and a half years ago, not a single civilian plane has flown into the country. No contrails, no hum of jet engines.
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So it was with some confusion that I found myself standing on a muddy road in the east of the country on Sunday staring upwards and wondering why a helicopter was hovering there. Then the chopper’s armaments opened up and it became clear – it was firing at a Russian Shahed drone.
The soldiers we had traveled to see in the tiny crossroads town of Mykolaivka, about 30 miles (48 km) from the enemy lines, were unfazed. They smoked, loaded their pickup with supplies we had brought from Odesa, and complained about all the usual things that soldiers complain about.
Military traffic rushed to and from the frontline city of Pokrovsk. Infantry fighting vehicles, SUVs sprouting anti-drone antennae, and of course ambulances. The helicopter flew away and the chatter of its gatling guns was replaced by the sound of distant anti-aircraft guns.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 3, 2026
Later we stood in a narrow dirt lane bisecting a backwater of a village. More supplies were being unloaded from our Hyundai by the men of the 137th. Overhead a Russian drone buzzed, but inexplicably showed no interest in killing us.
Still a nine-hour drive from Odesa, with the sun quickly setting, we accepted an invitation to spend the night with the men in their undeniably squalid cottage. The toilet was a hole dug in the backyard covered by a black plastic sheet. Nearby a neurotic German shepherd tugged at her chain and barked ferociously.
At some point a businessman had donated a mobile sauna to the unit, which sat on the weedy, trash-strewn lot, and I luxuriated in steam and hot water before dinner.
An excellent borsch was accompanied by bread, cheese, tomatoes and some troubling looking “military sausage.”
We slept on tiny sofas, covered by US military sleeping bags, serenaded by snoring. The soldiers conformed to type; working men doing a hard job. But also intelligent and amusing, and most of all, solid as steel.
Dirt, drones, and defenders. Think of them.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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