The Ukrainian woman artist who joined a factory and rose to head a drone production unit
Ukrainska Pravda
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A paintbrush swapped for a soldering iron, a colourful artistic life for the relentless pace of a defence plant.
That was the path taken by Liliia (name changed for security reasons), a Ukrainian artist whose bold decisions led her to Air3F, a producer of unmanned systems, where she rose from newcomer to head of the drone relay assembly workshop in six months.
Training new professionals from scratch, quickly and in real-world conditions is now a reality for many Ukrainian manufacturers. The reason is the broad labour shortage across the defence industry.
An increasing number of women are entering the sector, particularly those from humanities backgrounds. Weapons manufacturing has become a destination for those seeking work, looking to change their lives, or wanting to supportthetroops defending Ukraine on the front lines.
Ukrainska Pravda tells the story of an artist who chose the path of weapons manufacturing and rapidly progressed in the field. A soldering iron proved surprisingly similar to a paintbrush, making her artistic background an asset.
From canvases to drones
Photo: Anna Shtopenko
An unexpected opportunity
Art has always been at the centre of Liliia's life. Since graduating from art school in the 2000s, she has always had fine brushes, pencils, pens, canvases and stacks of stiff paper to hand.
For many years, she lived a busy life, packed with meticulous work, exhibitions, a creative circle of friends and teaching young artists.
And in one of those fast-moving twists and turns, while working on a creative project, Liliia got to know some representatives of the drone manufacturer Air3F.
During the conversation, she was offered an unexpected opportunity: a chance to join the weapons team. Liliia admits she did not take it seriously at first, but soon she found herself unable to stop thinking about it.
The desire to work at an arms factory did not come out of nowhere. At that stage of her life, Liliia found herself increasingly reflecting on her role in a country at war, especially as she saw people she knew join the military or work in dangerous areas. She began to feel that creativity alone was not enough to bring about real change.
"All of us in the arts try to influence society in different ways," she said. "Many artists, both in Ukraine and abroad, simply turn to war-themed subjects in their work, but I don't think that's an effective way to contribute to the struggle."
The choice
Photo: Anna Shtopenko
Liliia later had the opportunity to see the production process with her own eyes. After that, the decision came naturally. "I wanted to give it a go," she says, smiling.
She was undeterred by the prospect of physical labour, or the deep-seated myths about the work being "unfeminine".
"You can talk about 'unfeminine' professions in art, too. Take monumental art, church painting, mosaics, frescoes – that's physically demanding work," she emphasises.
Liliia had no background in technical work. She admits that her only exposure to it was studying physics at school and growing up in a family of engineers she looked up to as a child.
She had to learn everything from scratch.
Skill comes with patience
The training began straight away in a real-world work environment. Liliia was assigned the simplest, most tedious task – coating the contacts on voltage regulators with solder. At first, she spent a day or two doing the same thing over and over to get a feel for it and grasp the basics.
She explains that newcomers are always given the simplest tasks to practise. After that, they either stay on that process or gradually proceed to other stages. If they perform well, they can move on to assembling the full product.
Liliia was keen to delve deeper into the field, as the more she progressed, the more the work drew her in. It was challenging due to her lack of technical background, but shewas ableto compensatefor thatby drawing ontheskills she had gained through art.
Herneatness and attentiveness helped her to do everything carefully, and her fine motor skills came in handy when soldering and assembling electronic components.Herperseverance also played a significant role, for there is a clear rule in the world of artists: "Skill comes with patience."
Conscience
Photo: Anna Shtopenko
Liliia often compares her work in defence with painting. In botanical painting, for instance, microscopic details have to be rendered with exceptional precision. Circuit boards, she says, resemble this painstaking kind of work.
There is a technique in which artists create works using a silver needle. Whether it is that or soldering, both involve micro-movements that require complete control of the hand for fine, precise touches to a surface.
A soldering iron and a silver needle are very similar even to look at, and in terms of design and in how they are used. The shape of the tip – a very thin, sharp piece of metal – is designed for surgical precision, and the hand movements are almost identical.
In both cases, mistakes are almost impossible to correct, so you only have one chance to get it right.
A silver needle and a soldering iron
Photo: Anna Shtopenko
Liliiacompares it to watercolour: "With watercolour, if you've messed up, you've messed up. And nothing can save it. It's the same here – you have to get it right the first time."
It was difficult for her as a newcomer to keep up withthe pace ofproduction. Eventually, after learning the ropes through various minor processes, she was able to move on to assembling drones entirely on her own.
"There's so much information available now," Liliia said. "The internet, books and so on. You can always walk around the workshops and chat with colleagues to find the answers you need."
Very soon, her diligence and curiosity would lead her to a managerial position.
Becoming a manager and returning to teaching
Just six months after her first day at work, Liliia was offered the chance to head up a new department.
She explains that in manufacturing, it often happens that one department is swamped with orders while another experiences a slowdown. In such cases, staff are simply moved wherever extra hands are needed. She found herself in these situations all the time.
"Over time, I had learnt how to assemble everything the company produced," she says.
Then one day, colleagues from the R&D department asked her to help out. After working together, they were impressed by Liliia's skills. "And suddenly they were offering me the chance to head the drone relay assembly departmentthe companywasplanning to open soon," she says with surprise.
New opportunities
Photo: Anna Shtopenko
Under her management, the team now assembles 10-inch first-person view (FPV) drones, including fibre-optic models, 15-inch bomber UAVs and relay drones. Their specifications and design are more complex than the models she started with: more functional units, more components and even higher quality standards.
Liliia has found it difficult to manage the department. Although it is not large, communication, coordination and responsibility for other people'sworkbring a different kind of burden and stress. She admits that assembling a product with her own hands is still closer to her heart.
"Before, I depended only on myself. But here, I depend on the team," she explains.
On the other hand, teaching people comes easily to her, as she is an expert in this field. Something thathadseemed to be a thing of the past has come back to Lilia. She used to teach painting to young artists, and now she trains production staff.
A return to teaching
Photo: Anna Shtopenko
"Management is more about teaching someone how to do something.It's herethat my teaching experience really comes into its own," says Liliia.
Despite her lack of technical training, many of Liliia's skills have simply carried over from creative workshops to the production floor. It is this sense of continuity in her journey that she finds most inspiring.
Liliia says enthusiastically: "I don't seethisas just a job, because everything here is interesting. Especially when something new happens, when our department is the first to take on a product straight from development, test it and look for solutions. Usuallyyou're just happy when it worksand everything goes as planned."
Every skill can become a strength
Photo: Anna Shtopenko
Liliia's story shows that even after a lifetime as an artist,it'snever too late to take a risk and change direction when a new opportunity appears on the horizon.
Everything can be learnt, and valuable skills can be repurposed to bring new ideas to life. Ukraine's defence sector needs workers, and this can be a fascinating path to take.
