JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images
- A team of young soldiers in Ukraine is building drones and explosives to be used on the front lines.
- They are creating drones loaded with bombs to be used in combat in the Donbas region.
- Some of the bombs come inscribed with messages like "happy birthday."
A new Agence France-Presse video shows a group of young Ukrainian troops making drones and bombs from a basement close to the front lines of the ongoing conflict in the country's Donbas region.
In the video, a group of around a dozen men in fatigues is seen working on small, remotely-piloted robots. AFP reported that the devices were scavenged from damaged aircraft.
The AFP video, which describes the men as a "group of 20-somethings," also shows a soldier named Varnak, who has been tasked with packing the robots with explosives.
"Their job is to make it move. My job is to make it explode, to fill it with explosives as effectively as possible so that it does the most damage to the enemy, or their tanks, or other military equipment," he told the outlet.
Also seen in the video were bombs made by the team, which come inscribed with personal messages to their Russian enemies, including the sarcastic "happy birthday" and the matter-of-fact "today is a Wednesday, man."
JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images
Ukraine has been wresting large swathes of territory from the Russians, particularly in the Kharkiv region.
However, the skies over the highly-contested eastern Donbas have been the site of a fierce aerial battle, with the Ukrainians leaning on drones created by its fighters — many of whom are tech enthusiasts — to be flown in combat.
The US has also sent thousands of drones to Ukraine for use in the ongoing conflict. The figure includes 121 Phoenix Ghosts, a type of unmanned aerial system that can be launched by front-line troops for single attacks.
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