Russian soldiers in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblast are given essential supplies, including high-tech surveillance drones, in his most recent report from the frontlines, according to Ukrainian-American journalist-activist David Kirichenko. He bears witness to the mental burdens inflicted on these forces after more than two years of war and reflects on how independence for Ukraine remains the greatest purpose for those still struggling. This is the next of two components. Examine the first piece.
I had last visited my companions in the 109th , Separate Territorial Defense Brigade in the late summer of 2023, when their system was stationed near to Bakhmut. Their center was struck by the Russians a few weeks after I left, forcing them to leave Bakhmut. When I revisited the regiment, whose most recent battle had been close to the Avdiivka before, Norman, a product captain, informed me of that growth in March of this year.
As they had done during my prior visit, the soldiers took me out to the field and deployed a new drone they had received from the Ukrainian government. Backfire K1 was used for this one. A surprise explosion occurred at one point in the distance, when Russians were bombing nearby Ukrainian positions, and the shockwave blared past us. I could n’t imagine being on the zero- line, where soldiers receive the brute force of those bombs falling on them.  ,
The 109th  soldiers also showed me a small radio-controlled car they were testing. They were in the process of making sure all its functions worked, as they were preparing to stuff it with explosives and send it into a Russian trench to detonate.
Resigned to his fate but still there, still fighting
I spoke with a number of unit soldiers about drone warfare, including Norman, during interviews. He is very soft and gentle in nature. If you’d known him in his prior life you never would have assumed Norman would become a soldier. As in all previous interactions, when I last saw him in late 2023, he was content and upbeat. However, this time around, he was unique. Norman was colder, and in our interview he was soft- spoken and seemed a bit distracted.
It hit me after I returned from Ukraine. I now realize that his spirit was shattered. What I had interpreted as coldness from Norman was his response to the repeated trauma of watching his men fall and the toll that had taken over time. He appeared content with his choices, aware that his time might come soon, but felt compelled to go through the agony of losing his coworkers first. Norman is aware that his time is near, but he is still fighting.
Our physiological instinct is to live, our soul’s instinct is to love. We will fight when we have to fortify ourselves and our loved ones, but we can only take so much. Norman and many other soldiers experience overwhelming loss and sorrow.
Following my time in Donetsk Oblast, I also spent time with units from the 108th , Separate Territorial Defense Brigade and the 128th , Separate Mountain Assault Brigade in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. I went near the “gray” zone on the front one day with soldiers from the 108th , Brigade. This region is contested and sees daily shelling.
Taking advantage of a cloudy day with extensive rain – which provided cover from drones and allowed safer movement – the soldiers wanted to show me what the Russians had done to villages in the area. We traversed villages that had been wiped out by Russian rocket and artillery fire. Nearly every house we passed showed obvious signs of shelling, and there were craters everywhere. There were no signs of human life anywhere.
If Russia continues to advance, what I saw revealed to me what awaits the rest of Ukraine: only death and destruction. The same destruction that I witnessed with my own eyes in Bakhmut in 2022, when the Russians were relentlessly shelling the city, killing and destroying everything in their path. As has been its ’s leadership’s goal for hundreds of years, Russia wants to murder and enslave the Ukrainian people.
I had the opportunity to speak with over a dozen Ukrainian soldiers when I visited a drone unit from the 128th , Brigade. Men from what seemed like every single Ukrainian oblast were represented in the room. One Khmelnytskyi Oblast resident in his mid-forties was eager to learn and had enlisted in the drone unit to fight. All these men talking about life and politics, in an unlikely setting but with the aim of protecting their country and our freedom, were a sight to behold.
Crowdsourcing a war supply chain
I was looking for new ways to assist Ukrainian soldiers while I was there. I came up with the idea to auction off Ukrainian flags that had been signed by members of various frontline units. I bought six flags and a few markers, and with each frontline unit that I visited, I had soldiers sign the flags. When I came back to the United States, I sold each flag for$ 500, bringing in$ 3000. My friend Alina purchased attack drones and delivered them to units that storm Russian trenches using a local contact who sources them from Poland.
Despite the success of the initiative, I wanted a more stable method of sourcing supplies for soldiers.
My late friend Dmytro Lysenko, a drone pilot with the 109th , Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, sent me a few minutes later from the frontline videos showing how they were setting up and would be using the Mavic drone that I had given them.
He followed up with a photo of me with my name written on a bomb that was being attached to a drone in a way to thank me for my assistance. Then an idea came to mind. I suggested to Dmytro that we could start a campaign selling bomb signatures to raise money to buy supplies for the 109th.
My campaign began by posting a message on X ( previously known as Twitter ) to my friends to see if they would be willing to donate in exchange for soldiers ‘ autographed bombs. The idea quickly attracted attention, and soon I was busy collecting funds.
I sent Dmytro, who handled the personalization of the bombs, the names and messages. Then he would send me the photos of the signed bombs. Occasionally, he also shared videos of the bombs being mounted on drones, just before they were deployed on missions.
I instructed Dmytro to compile a wish list of every item they were absolutely in need of. He texted me a list of the items, and I told him we would buy everything. We were able to provide them with everything they requested in just a few weeks.
I felt like I was having an impact and making a difference. Dmytro and I talked every day, and he always expressed immense gratitude for my help. Dmytro was a simple family man who loved his wife and young daughter, just like the other members of the unit. He had never wanted to fight, but when the Russians invaded, he armed himself to defend his home in the Donetsk Oblast.
One day I received from Norman, the unit leader, the dreaded message I always feared:” Dmytro has passed”.
How is this possible? I believed. I had just spoken with Dmytro earlier that day. I had a deep void in my heart after hearing about the news.
By the time help arrived to evacuate him, he had already passed away, according to Norman. The Russian strike had claimed several lives at their position, and another friend was now critically injured in the hospital, battling for his life. Norman had witnessed the friends ‘ deaths firsthand and had been close by.
Over the years, I’ve collaborated with numerous soldiers and units in Ukraine. Even in Bakhmut, I would be in contact with them– and then, one day, they would stop replying. Through Norman, I became aware of Dmytro’s fate with him. Although he had been anticipating being featured in an interview for a drone report I was publishing, he passed away before I could publish it.
Former Ukrainian President , Petro Poroshenko also commented , on , Dmytro’s death:
Numerous people attributed Dmytro to the reconstruction and development of the Donetsk Oblast. a fervent patriot and resolute warrior who demonstrated his faith in the sacred principles of building Ukrainian statehood with blood, sweat, and ultimately his life as the representative of a new generation of young residents of Donetsk Oblast. He categorically did not tolerate injustice and fought for the truth with all his might, both in civilian life and on the front lines.
Reflection
The extent of Ukraine’s suffering is too great. Some of the most influential Ukrainians will have passed away before they can see a free and liberated Ukraine. It is up to us now to honor their memory and continue the fight.
We must continue the fight, a soldier once said to me,” We will have our revenge on the Russians.” He lamented that many of the Ukrainians who were the bravest have survived because they were cowards who fled the conflict. That is a very painful thought for the soldiers. But because they must avenge their fallen, they will keep going no matter what.
In 1622 , Kasiian Sakovych, a professor at the Kyiv Brotherhood School, wrote about the Cossacks. He referred to Cossacks as “fighting for” Golden Liberty as “having the same rights and liberties that the majority of the Polish-Lithusian Commonwealth nobility held.
However, only those who defend the fatherland and the lord can receive it. Knights win it by their valor in wars. Not with money, but blood does it go toward making the purchase” ( Plokhy,  , The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine, pp. 82- 83 ).
All the current soldiers who are fighting, and those who have perished or will perish, have purchased the freedom and rights of the Ukrainian people with their blood.
Taras Shevchenko, a poet and freedom fighter from the 19th century, believed that all people should be united, regardless of race or religion, for freedom. Freedom has always been our calling, just like our Cossack ancestors have done before us. Now is our chance to secure it once and for all. After such loss and destruction, Ukraine can no longer claim to win on the battlefield, but a victory is the least that Ukraine should strive for in return for its great sacrifices to defend humanity.
We shall tell my fallen friends ‘ wives and children that they were the best kind of heroes because they did n’t have superpowers, and that they were heroes. They were just regular people who, when faced with terror, chaos, and evil, stood up to do their part and gave everything to protect their families and their country.
I tell their commanders that they were my brothers. The phrase” For he that shed his blood with me shall be my brother” is still true after 400 years. To their commanders and to Norman: They led these men fiercely and with honor. And their deaths wo n’t be in vain.
David Kirichenko is a freelance journalist and activist from Ukraine who has frequently traveled to and worked in the regions where the conflict is raging. He can be found on the social media platform X @DVKirichenko