He could leave the war, but he refused. Ukrainian soldier Andrii, 24, from Poltava, is a father of three and a fighter in the drone battalion of Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Assault Brigade. He has pulled over a thousand vehicles off the battlefield: tanks, BMPs, APCs, self-propelled guns, and trucks during his service in the army.

“I’m staying here because I don’t want the Russians to reach my home,” says Andrii, explaining his motivation. 

Andrii’s journey began as a conscript and led him to become an FPV drone operator. Initially, he served as a mechanic-driver of a BREM-1 evacuation vehicle, working right on the front lines, under shelling and rain, just 250 meters from the enemy.

“When my comrades jumped off the armor to hook up a vehicle, artillery hit us. One was killed. I survived because I was behind the controls,” he recalls.

“You’re the first I’ve ever allowed to use 4th gear”

For his exceptional courage, Andrii was awarded the Order “For Courage,” 3rd class. Recognized as one of the top mechanics in the Armed Forces, he was sent to Germany to train on the German Bergerpanzer-2 armored recovery vehicle, based on the Leopard tank.

The German instructor was stunned by how experienced and skillful the young Ukrainian soldier was.

“You’re an excellent mechanic-driver. I’ve never let anyone use 4th gear on this vehicle — you’re the first,” he says. 

It was a moment where Ukrainian bravery and mechanical precision earned deep trust across allied lines.

The enemy sees him only in their final moments

Today, Andrii operates a fiber-optic FPV drone, navigating into enemy dugouts and capturing every detail. He was trained by Officer Andrii Zadorozhnyi, a hero who was killed in April.

His wife and children wait for him at home. His daughter often calls him right at the front line.

“Ah, you’re in a trench again! When are you coming home?” she asks. 

But Andrii answers firmly, “My home is just 200 kilometers from the enemy. I’m doing what I have to do.”

He sings Ukrainian songs and stops Russian assault troops. A former paramedic from Colombia, known as Miguel, came to Ukraine intending to serve as a combat medic. However, due to the language barrier, he was assigned to the infantry.

Despite this, he never abandoned his mission. Every day on the front line, he saves the lives of his comrades. He is learning Ukrainian by singing Chervona Kalyna, the country’s patriotic anthem. 

“At first, it was tough on the front line,” Miguel says, “but over time I realized you can fight back even against artillery. You have to attack and retreat, attack and retreat. That’s how I survived.”

The hardest part, he says, is overcoming the fear in your first battle.

“That’s the problem: people go into their first fight and afterward, because of fear, decide they can’t do it. But you have to adapt,” Miguel explains.

Even without official medic status, Miguel has repeatedly provided first aid to the wounded.

“The first cases stayed with me the most, but every single one of them inspires me to keep fighting and helping people. In the Legion, we are all one family. We always support each other,” he concludes.

Earlier, the Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade Magura formed a reconnaissance and strike group composed mainly of Colombian volunteers.

The company commander, known as Hamlet, personally organized the arrival of foreign volunteers, including Colombians and fighters from Peru, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Italy, and Mexico. Ukrainian state programs allow them to quickly undergo training and integrate into the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Ukrainian fighters describe Colombian volunteers as “brave and humane,” who retrieve their wounded comrades and injured Ukrainians from the frontline, and are ready to carry out essential missions.

American Derek Huffman thought he’d found the perfect solution. Move his family from Texas to Russia for “traditional values.” Join the military for fast-track citizenship. Work as a welder, not a fighter.

Instead, he’s heading to Ukraine’s front lines after three weeks of training despite assurances he would serve in a non-combat role.

American wanted to earn respect in Russia via military service

The 46-year-old father of three joined what’s called Tim Kirby’s “American Village” project earlier this year. Kirby, an American media personality living in Russia since 2006, promotes Putin’s agenda to disaffected Americans. The Huffmans documented their journey on social media, appearing in Russian propaganda videos while crowdfunding their new life.

In May, Derek joined the Russian military without prior military experience, expecting to work as a welder. His wife DeAnna explained that Derek was “told he would not be training for two weeks and going straight to the front lines. But it seems as though he is getting one more week of training, closer to the front lines, and then they are going to put him on the front lines.”

Derek’s motivation for enlisting was primarily to secure expedited citizenship for his family, rather than the longer traditional migration process. He also cited the signing bonus and his desire to earn respect in his new country.

“I don’t want anyone here in Russia to say that we don’t belong here, so if I go put my body on the line for Russia, I defend the country, our new country, I’ve earned our place here,” Derek stated in a video filmed last month.

Now his family asks for prayers as he’s being sent to frontlines

Russian recruiters made specific promises. First, Derek would work as a war correspondent. Then as a mechanic in a repair battalion, using his welding skills. No combat role.

Here’s what actually happened: Derek joined a unit of foreigners getting rushed training in Russian before deployment to Ukraine’s front lines.

DeAnna described the situation in her social media appeal, saying Derek “feels like he is being thrown to the wolves right now, and he is kind of having to lean on faith.”

She added that the family is “hoping that he can be utilized for his skills and not be used just as a fighter.”

The deployment also created financial strain for the family. Derek and his unit members were reportedly required to “donate” 10,000 rubles for their own supplies, consuming a substantial portion of his paycheck. DeAnna reported receiving no pay or bonus after one month of Derek’s service.

Can the family reverse this? DeAnna is petitioning unnamed public figures and asking for prayers to get Derek reassigned to a non-combat role.

How many foreign nationals died fighting for Russia? 

Derek isn’t the first American to discover Russia’s military promises don’t match reality. In April 2024, Michael Gloss, the 21-year-old son of a CIA executive, was killed fighting for Moscow in Ukraine.

Despite his American intelligence family background and past idealism focused on humanitarian goals, Michael had become deeply disillusioned with the US and sought to “fight against America,” embodying a radical anti-establishment mindset.

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His recruitment exposed glaring security failures in the Russian military, which neglected to thoroughly vet family ties even for high-profile figures. 

The BBC Russian Service and Mediazona conducted a joint investigation, confirming the deaths of 523 foreign nationals from 28 countries who fought for Russia in Ukraine.

A significant portion of these foreign fighters were Central Asians, with Tajikistan (72 deaths) and Uzbekistan (66 deaths) having the highest numbers, many of whom were recruited from Russian penal colonies by groups like Wagner in exchange for sentence cancellation.

Nepal also saw high casualties, with 70 confirmed deaths and about 50 more missing. Other countries with reported casualties include Egypt, Sri Lanka, and the United States.

Around 1,000 North Korean soldiers have also been killed, with additional wounded and missing, fighting alongside Russian forces primarily in the Kursk border region.

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Skyeton, the Ukrainian developer of the well-known long-range Raybird unmanned aerial vehicles, which have logged over 350,000 hours of combat flights, has become a target of technological espionage by unscrupulous European companies, The Telegraph reports. 

Roman Kniazhenko, the company’s CEO, reveals this. According to him, Western manufacturers visit “as guests” with alleged proposals for cooperation, but instead they are trying to steal production secrets. 

“Then they do beautiful pitch books, beautiful presentations about how they’re operating in Ukraine. But actually they’ve done just a couple of flights in Lviv [the western city more than 1,000km from the front line],” he says. 

Sometimes, Kniazhenko continues, he sees in their presentations, “literally my own words, without any change.”

He also emphasizes that while Ukrainian drones withstand real combat conditions, taking off even from puddles, European governments are spending billions on products that merely simulate combat effectiveness. 

“The big problem, after that, is that billions of dollars go to the companies that still don’t have any idea what they’re doing,” says Kniazhenko. 

Meanwhile, the Skyeton team, currently 500 people strong, works 24/7 developing drones for the toughest frontline conditions.

One example of its effectiveness was an operation in the Black Sea: Ukrainian special forces went missing at night, and a Raybird, with its lights on, was able to locate them in the dark waters.

“From one side, everything looks perfect for us. But it was like hell, a night of hell. When you are destroying something you feel good for a couple seconds. But when you know that you saved someone. Like, it’s a totally different feeling,” explains Kniazhenko. 

He also urges the West to fund the production of Ukrainian drones on its territory instead of starting a startup from scratch. Every country has the technologies it is good at, he stresses, adding that for Ukraine, it is clear that it is drones. 

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