Illustration: #VeronikaKotyk
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Andriy is 15 years old, and he recently finished ninth grade. The boy lived in the village of Kolonshchyna, in Bucha Raion, not far from the Zhytomyr highway. Andriy became interested in drones at the age of six. So when his native village was surrounded by Russian invaders, and the Ukrainian military desperately needed aerial scouts, the schoolboy volunteered to help the army.
The military was initially confused by the boy's age, but there was no choice since they needed to find out the coordinates of the enemy, and there were no drone pilots in the area. They gave Andriy the best drone, and the boy, his father, and some Ukrainian soldiers went to the field. The task was as follows: the territorial defense noticed an enemy column of military equipment near the village of Berezivka (20 km east of Kyiv by the Zhytomyr highway). The Armed Forces needed precise coordinates to destroy it. Andriy launched the drone, noticed the light from one of the trucks in the convoy, took a picture, and passed the information on to the command. Next, the Ukrainian artillery stopped the Russian convoy and didn't allow it to get closer to the capital.
Andriy and his father continued to go out into the field with the drone every day for the next two weeks. During the battle for Makariv (35 km from Kyiv), a young aerial scout recorded the coordinates of the enemy and passed them on to the artillerymen. Andriy heard the commands to start a fire and the sounds of shelling. It was scary, but the desire to protect Ukraine was more significant. Thanks to the defense of the Zhytomyr highway, the Russians failed to capture the capital, and later they were forced to retreat.
When the occupiers left Kyiv Oblast, the boy wanted to continue working for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but his father decided that his son must first finish school safely. So the family temporarily moved abroad. Andriy plans to return and continue to help the Ukrainian army. And when victory comes, he wants to resume filming nature with his drone.