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A purple laser light shines into a night sky that whines. But this is no pyrotechnic show. The whirring noise that sounds like a lawn mower comes from exploding drones that Russia has fired towards Kyiv on a mission of death and destruction.
“It’s there. I’m following it,” a man shouts, his voice urgent.
A Browning M2 machine gun erupts and yellow streaks rip through the air forming a cluster of red dots in the abyss above where .50 calibre bullets tear into an Iranian-made Shahed drone.
This is the Darth Vader drone hunter brigade in action in their hometown of Hnidyn, in Kyiv Oblast, about 30kms south east of Kyiv city centre.
In the defensive operation in January, the volunteer unit blasted the Shaheds bound for the capital, a video shows. “We shot down one, made some damage for the second drone,” says brigade member Jimi, who can be heard shouting in the footage as he wielded a high powered torch, directing a tube of purple light on the drone, before the unit’s gunner opened fire on it.
“But then the second one was destroyed by another (volunteer) group — they noticed our work and were ready to shoot.”
Drones buzz towards Ukraine’s capital in frequent nightly attacks. The Shaheds carry 50kg warheads and reach speeds of up to 111mph (178km/) on missions to hit sites such as energy infrastructure.
Western air defence systems, including the US made Patriot, combat the attacks, and in the year to April intercepted about 80% of the drones, figures from Ukraine’s Air Force show. However, falling debris from the downed devices often leave civilians injured.
Mobile volunteer units, such as the Darth Vader brigade, in towns outside Kyiv make up an earlier line of defence for the city — with the brigades aiming to shoot down the devices before they swarm into the capital to rain down death and misery.
“It’s a good opportunity to protect our families,” says Jimi, reflecting on his part-time work to help keep Kyiv’s skies safe, a world away from his day job as a remote IT worker for a company in Springfield, Missouri in the US. “It’s inspiring that you possibly save lives — one life, or in some cases a lot of lives.”
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“We don’t know if we’ll still be alive next week, so we live as if there’s no tomorrow.”
The five members of Darth Vader – who give only their call signs for security reasons — are made up of 36-year-old Jimi, Buryi, 52, also an IT worker, the group’s commander Dreamer, 49, a company boss, Czech, 37, an energy saving professional, and 23-year-old history teacher, Dima.
They named their unit Darth Vader on account of the purple laser they shine into a night sky to light up an incoming drone for their gunner to shoot.
“The light is like Darth Vader’s sword,” Jimi laughs. On May 7, the Darth Vader unit gathered in a field of long grass outside Hnidyn.
It is pushing 8pm and the sun bleeds out of the sky; the air warm.
The outskirts of the capital city are just 5kms to the north where residential blocks are visible – tall buildings of different sizes that, in the distance, look like bars on a graph.
There has been no notification of a drone attack tonight and the brigade has met to check on their equipment.
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Jimi jumps up onto the back of a VW van, converted into a makeshift pick up truck, and helps set up the M2 Browning machine gun, the unit’s main weapon to fire on drones.
Dreamer, the brigade’s commander, Czech and Jimi have hauled the heavy weapon out of a box and are propping it onto a stand as metal clanks. Now sitting comfortably on its perch, Czech swivels the gun easily, ready to pull the trigger. The weapon can hit targets as far away as 2,000 metres.
“It’s on a base, so it doesn’t kick back too much for the user when he fires. It’s very noisy. Too loud,” Jimi says, laughing. The sky now darkens fully and insects chirp.