A Ukrainian teenager and his father spied on a Russian convoy on the outskirts of Kyiv using a small drone and passed on information to Ukraine’s military.

They took bird’s-eye pictures of the Russian tanks and trucks as they moved closer to their village and pinpointed the convoy’s coordinates, before sending the intelligence to the military.

Within minutes, Ukraine‘s military hit the column with heavy shelling.

Russia warns of response to NATO build-up in Poland – Ukraine news latest

Andriy Pokrasa, 15, and his father Stanislav, 41, have been praised for the volunteer aerial reconnaissance work during the early days of the invasion when Russian troops from the north made a failed attempt to seize the capital Kyiv.

The pair monitored the convoy for a full week after the invasion on 24 February.

“These were some of the scariest moments of my life,” the teenager said.

Ukraine war: McDonald’s reopens its doors in Russia under new name ‘Tasty and that’s it’

Ukraine war: Russia launches new ‘sanction-proof’ car

Ukraine war: PM orders ministers to do ‘everything in their power’ to help free Britons on Russian death row

“We provided the photos and the location to the armed forces. They narrowed down the coordinates more accurately and transmitted them by walkie-talkie, so as to adjust the artillery.”

His father added that his son is a much better drone pilot.

“I can operate the drone, but my son does it much better,” he said.

“We immediately decided he would do it.”

While they are not sure how many Russian targets were destroyed with the help of their intelligence, they did see the devastation on the convoy when they later flew the drone over the area.

“There were more than 20 Russian military vehicles destroyed, among them fuel trucks and tanks,” Mr Pokrasa said.

However, as the fighting intensified on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine’s military urged the Pokrasa family to leave their village, which Russia eventually occupied.

As all adult men up to the age of 60 were ordered to stay in Ukraine, Mr Pokrasa could not join his wife and son when they fled to Poland.

They came back a few weeks ago when Andriy had finished his school year.

“I was happy that we destroyed someone,” the teenager said.

“I was happy that I contributed, that I was able to do something. Not just sitting and waiting.”

Subscribe to Ukraine War Diaries on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Spreaker

Related posts:

Belgium dump holders Portugal out of Euro 2020 – after Czech Republic stun Netherlands World champions France knocked out of Euro 2020 by Switzerland Brazil to send troops back to Amazon to fight deforestation Mexico’s methane leak rate ‘alarming and worrying’ for climate change, report warns Ireland’s long wait for Olympic gold ends with ‘tremendous’ victory in double sculls ‘Sexist’ rule requiring female handball players to wear bikinis scrapped Sewage and informal settlements are choking Brazil’s Amazonian waterways ‘We are racing to get to Rayan’: Rescuers edge nearer to boy, 5, trapped in well for four days US groups need to stop interfering in Canadian trucker COVID protests, former ambassador says ‘I’ll look after him as long as necessary’: British man evacuates friend’s 10-year-old brother from Ukraine Shane Warne’s life will be celebrated with ‘a very big event’ Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, White House warns