Ukraine: Female Unit Gunning Down Russian Drones

It’s when dark falls over Bucha that the witches come out because that’s when the Russian attack drones start swarming.

The Witches of Bucha, as they call themselves, are a volunteer air defence unit made up almost entirely of women, now helping to protect Ukraine’s skies as more and more men are sent to the frontlines.

There are more drones to shoot down, too, often launched from Russia in waves to overwhelm the main defences ahead of a missile strike.

The night-time shifts allow the women to combine their work defending their country with day jobs as teachers and doctors – there’s even a manicurist.

Many say it’s a way of overcoming the powerlessness they felt when Russian forces occupied the Bucha region at the start of the full-scale invasion.

The horror stories of those weeks – including killing, torture, and abduction – only began to emerge after Ukrainian forces freed the area at the end of March 2022.

Drone-busters
“I’m 51, I weigh 100kg, I can’t run. I thought they’d send me packing, but they took me on!” Valentyna recalls, a veterinarian who signed up with the drone-busters this summer and now goes by the callsign Valkyrie.

She talks about friends deployed to the front and others who’ve died in the fighting as part of what brought her to this role.

“I can do this work. The kit’s heavy, but we women can do it.”

Valentyna gets to demonstrate that a few hours later as an air alert is activated across the region.

Her unit scramble from their base in the woods, and we follow their pick-up truck through the darkness as it bumps towards the middle of a field. The team of four jumped out to begin mounting their weapons.

The machine guns are from another era: two Maxims made in 1939, ammunition boxes stamped with red stars from Soviet days.

Serhiy, the only man on the team, has to pour in bottled water by hand as a coolant.

This is all that’s available: Ukraine’s best kit is at the frontline, and it is constantly asking its allies for more.

But the ancient weapons are impeccably maintained, and the Witches say they’ve downed three drones since the summer.

BBC/Shakirat Sadiq