Hollywood-level flying skills are only part of the story. Ukrainian drone pilots say hard work, tactics, teamwork, and technical mastery matter far more than reflexes. In exclusive interviews at a May 2026 competition in Truskavets, experienced operators aged 20 to 53 stressed practice and adaptatio
Kyiv Post
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Hollywood-level individual flying skills are only a small part of what makes Ukrainian drones so lethal to Russian tanks and soldiers, and almost any personality type can become an “ace” operator as long as they’re ready to work hard, nine top-level pilots told Kyiv Post in interviews conducted Tuesday-Wednesday.
Watching each unique munition detonation in real-time in color video is an unpleasant but necessary part of the job, and once flight operations are over sleep comes easily, the Ukrainian pilots aged 20 to 53 said. There were no exceptions.
The interviews took place on the sidelines of an Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU)-organized fly-off in the western town of Truskavets – pitting 19 drone teams against each other in timed skill tests like obstacle flying, bomb dropping, reconnaissance and intercepting enemy drones in flight.
Most competitors were seasoned combat UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) pilots picked from units currently deployed along the 1,000+ kilometer Russo-Ukraine War front line. Some teams were drawn up from drone instructor pilots with years of wartime drone flight experience, now working with training units.
Nine of Ukraine’s best drone pilots take a break from competition at a meet in Truskavets Ukraine on May 19-20. Clockwise from upper-right, not including central image: Messny-71st Air Assault Brigade, Dendi-22nd Mech Brigade, Markiz-77th Air Assault Brigade, Kiper-115th Mech Brigade, Badiun-47th Mech Brigade, Slava-1st Center of Special Training, Artem-1/59 Motorized Brigade, Yankee – Unit not identified. Center image: Shurman, 4th Heavy Brigade. (Images by Stefan Korshak / Kyiv Post / on May 19-20)
Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya arrived in Kyiv on Monday for her first-ever visit to Ukraine at the invitation of President Zelensky. She is expected to meet Ukrainian officials and take part in the International Summit of Cities and Regions focused on Ukraine’s reconstruction. Tsikhanouskaya also paid tribute to Belarusian activist Maria Zaitseva, highlighting shared Belarusian-Ukrainian resistance to authoritarianism and Russia’s war.
Neither chain of command members nor AFU outreach officers were present during pilot interviews. All identified themselves but asked their identities not be made public for security reasons. Kyiv Post respected the requests.
As a group, the typical Ukrainian highly skilled “right stuff” drone pilot turned out to be an unmarried man with technical education, but not always. Operators contradicted the popular narrative that the AFU has created the world’s most massive drone forces by recruiting tens of thousands of hardcore teenage gamers – only a modest majority told Kyiv Post they played computer games at all before going to war.
But all said that experience playing fast-twitch computer games can help a person become a competent combat drone pilot. Those with gaming experience consistently mentioned the auto racing game Need for Speed.
Agreement was near-universal that the very best pilots get the highest kill counts thanks not to fast reflexes but because of mastery of attack tactics, Russian drone countermeasures, and electronics and wave propagation. Launching a drone and overcoming terrain, weather and jamming for a successful impact on a Russian combat vehicle or soldier takes hard work and repetition and there aren’t short cuts, they said.
Two racing drones fitted with dummy grenade-style bombs await lift off at a drone pilot competition in Truskavets Ukraine, photograph is from May 20. (Image by Stefan Korshak / Kyiv Post)
Motivation and morale among the Ukrainian pilots were high. Most said that the way they see it, Ukraine is on the path to defeating Russia by attrition because Russia’s armed forces can’t overcome Ukraine’s dense drone defenses and take shocking casualties trying to do so.
In response to the question, “Considering all the individual Russian soldiers you have personally maimed or killed, and watched it happen, how do you feel about that and how do you sleep?” – every operator told Kyiv Post they sleep fine. Several said that any Russian soldier setting foot on Ukrainian soil had made himself a legitimate target.
Individual drone pilot bios and selected comments
1. Callsign: Messny, 29, from Kharkiv, has a fuel engineering degree. As a boy, he liked Lego and erector sets/Meccano. He volunteered at the start of the war and served as a frontline fighter with several units. By 2024, he had joined the 71st Air Assault Brigade, moved into drone operations, and became a drone section commander.
He has lost count of how many combat flights he’s flown, but estimated it has been at least a thousand.
A drone team’s success, he said, is down to close teamwork, smart tactics, readiness for Russian counter-strikes, and collective ability to modify a drone in the field so enemy jamming or weather affects it least.
“The biggest thing a new pilot has to do is overcome his fear, you can practice all you want, but once you fly in combat it’s totally different, everything a pilot does becomes a risk, and it’s scary. It takes time to get practice and overcome it.”
2. Callsign: Dendi, 29, from Kharkiv, graduated from a military college. Started wartime career as a junior lieutenant with rear area duties, accepted a demotion to get to a frontline posting. Commands a drone section in the 22nd Mechanized Brigade.
He singled out practice and teamwork in the basic 3-man (pilot, spotter, technician) drone team as the keys to combat effectiveness. A brigade and battalion chain of command that understands drone limitations like adverse weather or jamming is equally important, he said.
Asked what technical advances he needed to fly and fight more effectively, he answered:
“I need more drones…there is no such thing as having too many drones.”
FPV drone fitted with an observation camera and gimbals, possibly a custom or semi-custom high-performance model, hovers during a break in competition at a drone pilot meet in Truskavets Ukraine on May 20. (Image by Stefan Korshak / Kyiv Post)
3. Callsign: Markiv, 35, from Zhovty Vody. Completed technical college as an engineer-mechanic, worked in peacetime as a welder. He joined the military at the start of the war, was assigned to the artillery and handed a cheap Chinese Mavic drone and ordered to learn to fly it to help adjust fires.
Currently a senior sergeant with 77th Airmobile Brigade, in which capacity he brings young pilots into the unit. According to him it takes about 90 days of combat flying to turn a new trainee into a decent wartime drone pilot.
“The main thing is they have to burn with the desire to learn, to give themself totally over to the work. They have to understand the environment around them, there aren’t any unimportant details. Weather, electronics, the enemy – it all goes into it.”
4. Callsign: Kiper, 43, from Vinitsiya. Educated as a precision instruments engineer. Joined at the start of the war as a machine gunner, wounded severely, volunteered for drones because the medical board rated him unsuitable for infantry.
Flying drones since 2023, estimates sorties at “several thousand” and Russian soldiers hit by drones flown by him at more than 500. Currently with the 115th Mechanized Brigade.
Admitted to “some pleasure” in scoring hits.
Ukrainian drone technician takes a break from preparing dummy bombs that will be dropped during a drone competition in Truskavets Ukraine, photograph is from May 20. (Image by Stefan Korshak / Kyiv Post)
5. Callsign: Badiun, 32, university degree in electronics. At one point worked as a tailor and suit clothier. Volunteered as an armed civilian in 2022, joined the high profile drone unit Rubak in April. Described himself as “a part time gamer.”
Has flown practically every shorter-range drone operated by the AFU starting with Mavics and through reconnaissance, bomber and the most difficult, FPVs. He said that each drone section is unique in its work-sharing depending on the skill sets and individual operators level of knowledge.
“The team is the main thing. You can have an amazing pilot who can do anything with the drone, but if he doesn’t know the electronics, or the jamming situation, or the field situation, then someone else has to do that for him and hand him his drone on a plate.”
6. Callsign: Slava, 35, Zaporizhzhia. Educated as a mechanic, ran a successful trading business before the war. Once the Russians invaded, assisted the 53rd Mechanized Brigade with medical supplies, ambulances, and Chinese drones.
In 2023, using money from his business formed a “volunteer” drone unit that thanks to experience, local knowledge and good materiel support became a mobile reserve operating in the Donbas and Zaporizhzhia sectors. In 2024 converted to training drone pilots and now runs five training centers. His business now is building drones to pay for the training centers.
“Before the war I hadn’t ever even seen a drone. We had to teach ourselves everything. But that made us some of the first, so we developed a reputation and other units asked for our help… Flying drones is the best job in the world. I sleep great but I don’t have enough time.”
7. Callsign: Artem, “late 30s,” Kyiv, humanitarian university degree. Mobilized as a reservist in 2015. Played computer games but strategy not FPS or simulator. Volunteered in 2022, assigned to an air defense unit, moved to 59th Motorized Brigade’s drone unit Zhizhaki Vysot (Predators of the Heights) in 2023.
Has flown at least 1,000 combat missions. He said that a successful team has to manage things like fatigue and motivation as much as the enemy and the targets, because the longer a team is deployed the tireder it gets.
“I don’t like killing. The way I think about it, if I make an attack I’m preventing something, I’m preventing by brothers from being hit. I don’t have any pity for the enemy. For me a hit is just a statistic.”
8. Callsign: Shturman, 29, Berdyansk. Political Science graduate from Ukraine’s elite Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, studied in Netherlands on scholarship. As a university grad entered territorial defense forces as a lieutenant in 2022, shifted to drones in 2023, by 2025 has become deputy commander of the drone battalion in 4th Heavy Mechanized Brigade.
For many years he flew drones in preference to rear area jobs, now main focus is training, supporting ongoing operations, and bringing new UAV pilots on board – but flew and helped his team take a respectable third place at Truskavets.
“At one point we were flying in the south and my home town that the Russians invaded and that my family and I had to leave, was about 100 km away. So I didn’t feel much sympathy when a drone hit one.”
9. Callsign: Yankee, 43. Born in Kyiv, moved to the US as a child, became an American and grew up in the Chicago area. University degree in public relations, became a successful farmer. In 2022 returned to Ukraine to help fight the Russians, joined the International Legion, was severely wounded losing an eye.
After five operations pronounced unsuitable for infantry service, found his way to another branch of the Ukrainian government operating drones, flying them in operations at various locations. Sometimes field-tested new equipment and fitted upgrades on site. In 2025, transitioned to a major Ukraine-based drone manufacturer and pilot trainer.
“I had messed around with drones for years, just for fun… to be really effective an operator can’t just fly, he needs to know how to change things out, like electronics and antennas, and to do that he has to know what’s going on around him.”
