Inna is a veteran school teacher. She looks like she has never set foot in a gym, has three children, and a recruited husband whom she hasn't seen in a long time. "I dedicate myself to explaining mathematics to children and never thought I could be learning to use a weapon to shoot down drones," she says, dressed in her ochre pixelated uniform.
- Do you think you could kill someone with your weapon?
- I have thought about it a lot. I could never kill people, but I think the Russians are vermin. We are in Bucha and we all saw what they did here. I won't hesitate against the Russians, and a bullet fired by me is identical to that of any man.
We are in the north of Bucha and today is training day for the territorial guard garrison protecting the city, to which the so-called Witches of Bucha belong, an exclusively female volunteer unit (they use the broom icon on their patch) made up of women who, for the most part, have never had any relationship with the military.
Early in the morning, amidst the fog, the volunteers receive a new message from the commander, one of the heroes of the defense of Bucha against the Russian occupiers: "We are going to learn to operate anti-aircraft machine guns. From now on, in addition to patrolling our streets, we will also defend the skies of Kiev and shoot down Russian drones," he says to the formation.
At the shooting range, an officer nicknamed The Italian (he speaks the language perfectly) explains to us that the Iranian-origin Shaheed drones fly low and are slow and loud enough to be shot down with machine guns if their trajectory is known beforehand. The data confirms this: most of these unmanned aircraft are shot down before reaching the city center. Only a minority make it through. The chosen weaponry for this purpose is striking: two old Maxim machine guns, in service since 1889 and protagonists on the battlefields of World War I. Mounted on a rotating platform with a telescopic sight, they are still capable of firing 600 bullets per minute. We ask The Italian about this museum piece:
- Can the Maxim, which is a weapon from another era, take down the modern Shaheed drones?
- Of course. Two firing at the same time. Many of our defenders shoot down drones daily with them. This is what we have, and we have to make the most of it. Besides, they are easy to use.
The volunteers are divided into three teams. They must practice receiving the order, locating the trajectory, mounting the double machine gun on the truck, loading it, and, when they see the drone, wait for orders. They cannot open fire without the appropriate indication. There have already been cases of friendly fire on their own fighter trying to shoot down the drone in flight and being hit by these shots. For that reason, even if it means losing a few seconds, the operators must be sure that the drone is flying solo.
Natalia, a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wears her commander's insignia. She is the only one with previous experience with weapons (she was a police officer), which earned her a promotion in the unit: "The question is not why we founded this unit and why we decided to fight. The question would be for those who have not done so yet: 'How can you continue living without fighting against the enemy that is killing us without you doing anything to stop it?'".
Now the responsibilities of these types of militarized civilian groups increase as a result of the shortage of soldiers on the front lines, a bitter fruit of the three-year-long war of attrition. For this reason, these volunteers already have new tasks assigned. Anti-aircraft defense is one of them. With this move, Kiev aims to free up professional soldiers from veteran brigades to work closer to the front lines, and these volunteer units (and the Witches of Bucha are one of them) are tasked with protecting the cities in the rear.
The current anti-aircraft defense of cities like Kiev is layered. These drone hunters with machine guns represent the first layer. Then, Ukraine has Stinger missiles fired from the shoulder, combat aircraft like the MiG29 or the American F16 to shoot them down from the air, and then the different missile anti-aircraft batteries surrounding the capital, such as the Hawk (some of them donated by Spain), the NASAMS, and the Patriot, the last layer of this Ukrainian steel dome that deals with Russian cruise and ballistic missiles.
Natalia had a nail salon before the invasion. Her pink-stitched nails are perfect, contrasting with the roughness of the uniform, the metal of the Kalashnikov, and the ugliness of the Kevlar helmet. "All of us had a life that was taken from us and to which we can no longer return. Our businesses were destroyed, and our clients fled to Europe. There is no turning back now," she comments.
A couple of operators launch a drone into the sky similar to a Shaheed that they pursue without pulling the trigger. When the time comes, The Italian asks to use live fire but without shooting down their own drone. A woman who used to be a baker presses the two triggers, and the entire truck shakes with the sound of the old Maxims. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Each bullet leaves a trail of black smoke and an empty casing. Soon they will bring down Shaheeds.