It is a cloudless day on the bank of a reservoir near Kiev. Some fishermen are sitting on the shore and several families are enjoying the sun. Suddenly, a Hummer military vehicle with a Stinger anti-aircraft system appears. People, accustomed to the daily grind of war, quickly pack up and check their cell phones for missile alerts.

Two military men get out of the car and reassure the people. This time it was just for exercise. However, Alexander, the commander-in-chief, points out that in the event of an air attack, everyone should leave the shore immediately. “It is dangerous to be in an open space near a body of water, because from time to time Russian missiles and Iranian Shahed drones fall here, which we intercept,” the 36-year-old tells DW. A fellow soldier, Ivan, carefully examines everything in the water, on the opposite bank and in the surrounding area.

“It takes good vision and ingenuity”

Their man-portable air defense system, the Dual Mount Stinger, can shoot down missiles, planes and helicopters at a distance of five kilometers and up to three kilometers in height. Ivan and Oleksandr reenact combat conditions they’ve been through many times in the past: they quickly take boxes of rockets out of the vehicle and load the missiles into the launcher. Oleksandr jumps into the swivel seat on the roof of the vehicle and surveys the airspace. “I can launch two rockets in five seconds,” he explains. “The radar pinpoints a target in the air before I see it, transmits the coordinates and tells us where to aim at approx. When I see the target, we open fire.” With the exception of hypersonic missiles, it can shoot down “really anything.” The only thing he reveals above is this: “Good vision and ingenuity is needed, as the system can also target a cloud above a drone.”

In recent weeks, most Russian missile attacks in the region have taken place at night. Aleksandr and Ivan admit that those nights were very tense. Then it is much more difficult to identify the targets, which in addition are too many. According to Ivan, the Russian military wants to weaken Ukraine’s air defense reserves, as well as its morale. But that’s not going to happen: “We have enough missiles and we’ve also learned not to sleep at night,” says Ivan.

“I am responsible for many lives”

When asked how he feels when he fails to take down a target, Oleksandr struggles to answer. Psychologically, it is very difficult when he sees that homes, schools or hospitals have been hit. “Then I realize I failed to save lives. I am responsible for many lives.” For each enemy target shot down, they paint a trident, the national emblem of Ukraine, on their vehicle. Twelve tridents adorn the Hummer.

So far the Air Defense Command of the Ukrainian army has not given the press any information about the work of these mobile groups. In the first months of the war, Oleksandr recounts how he shot down two Su-25 aircraft and two K-52 helicopters in the Kiev area. Helicopters are especially hard to hit, he explains, because they can deflect missiles with lasers. “We were told that they cannot be defeated, but with effort everything is possible. I was constantly changing positions, I was under fire, but I finally made it,” he says.

Relief thanks to the IRIS-T and Patriot systems

According to the estimates of the Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air defense is now successfully repelling mass missile attacks on Kiev. Mobile, man-portable air defense systems are difficult to locate and can be assembled and dismantled quickly. That is why it was a relief when Ukraine received the powerful IRIS-T and Patriot air defense systems from its partners.

Oleksandr was a professional soldier before the war broke out and participated in the protection of Ukraine’s airspace: “I went to war to protect Ukraine, my family – my wife and child, whom I have not seen for eight months ». Ivan, on the other hand, was trained during the war. His motivation to serve in the air defense has to do with his profession, as before the war he was in civil protection, where he also saved lives.

They do not disclose how many such mobile air defense units protect the Kyiv region, but they are not few. They promise to tell everything after the war – how many missions were successful, but also what losses there were.