For Ukrainian Army drone pilot Kratos, the job has changed from reconnaissance and bombing missions to trying to stop enemy drones from reaching troops. He says drones can reach as far as 30 kilometres behind the front line, leaving his team spending most of its time underground. His account, published in a New Scientist interview excerpt, offers one pilot’s view—not a verified picture of conditions across Ukraine’s armed forces.
Who is Kratos, and how did he become a drone pilot?
The available account identifies him only by his call sign, Kratos; it does not give his legal name. He says he was studying computer science and had recently secured an internship at a game company when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. According to the interview excerpt, he joined the army on the day the invasion began.
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He describes moving through three roles: reconnaissance drone pilot, bomber-drone pilot and, later, an anti-drone operator. The excerpt places him in the Aquila regiment under the 3rd Army Corps. It describes the regiment as countering threats from small FPV drones to long-range kamikaze drones, using short-range anti-aircraft guns, shoulder-launched rockets and drones. Kratos’s small team focuses on drone-to-drone combat above the front line.
What does an anti-drone unit do?
At a high level, Kratos describes a team organized around several jobs rather than a single pilot working alone. The secondary reproduction of the interview says members assemble and arm drones, pilot them, handle navigation and keep records. He says team members train to cover one another’s roles, so work can continue when someone is unavailable.
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The account frames the purpose in terms of protecting troops on the ground. Kratos recalls supporting soldiers retaking a village and intercepting a drone that threatened a wounded soldier. That episode illustrates the stakes he describes, but the available account does not independently verify the mission or its outcome.
How far behind the front do drones reach?
Kratos says drones reach as far as 30 kilometres behind the front line. That is his description of the threat in his operating area, not a universal boundary for drone activity across Ukraine. He says the danger of being spotted makes time outside hazardous and that his personnel spend “90 per cent” of their time underground in bunkers. Both figures are his estimates, not independently measured statistics.
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He describes life in those conditions as continuous work, with only occasional respite in Kyiv. Even away from the front, he says, awareness of strikes remains. His short description of bunker life captures the contrast between routine and danger: “The conditions are like camping, but it obviously has a very different vibe.”
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What do his reported mission numbers mean?
A secondary reproduction of the interview attributes several figures to Kratos. They are personal claims from the account, not independently audited records, and the available material does not define how each tally was counted.
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| Figure | What Kratos reportedly said | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 932 | Enemy drones he says he has taken out. | Attributed to Kratos in a secondary reproduction; not independently verified. |
| 180 targets in 20 days | Targets his team reportedly hit during a front-line deployment. | Attributed to Kratos in a secondary reproduction; not independently verified. |
| Up to 30 sorties a day | The highest daily sortie tempo he reportedly described. | “Up to” is a peak, not an average; attributed to Kratos in a secondary reproduction. |
Without independently confirmed definitions or records, these figures should be read as reported interview claims—not as verified unit-wide performance statistics.
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Kratos contrasts the early days of the war with the conditions he describes now: his account shifts from reconnaissance and bomber-drone roles to a small team trying to intercept enemy drones. The interview presents this change alongside a broader sense of exposure: he describes threats well behind the front, long periods underground, exhaustion, injury and death. The experience he recounts combines a clear tactical purpose—protecting ground troops—with the strain of constant danger.
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The original New Scientist article was not directly accessible in the available material. The fuller figures and additional details above come from a secondary reproduction, which does not independently confirm battlefield claims. For the interview excerpt and its attribution, see Sözalt’s excerpt of the New Scientist interview and The Bizzi Route’s reproduction.
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