Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:00a small payment and are ready to provide
00:00:03them not only to governments, but
00:00:06to rebels, including groups
00:00:09openly associated with Al-Qaeda in Mali,
00:00:12is this, in your opinion, something that
00:00:15can also be stopped by a single shout from Trump, or are we
00:00:19facing a real new danger from
00:00:22Kyiv? Of course, we are facing a new
00:00:25danger from Kyiv and from... from
00:00:28Silicon Valley itself, because
00:00:31the way now,
00:00:33on the one hand, ethical,
00:00:37ethical organized
00:00:40leaders and movements, like Dario Madei,
00:00:42talk about danger, by the way, Dmitry Medvedev wrote today
00:00:46practically such? Dario Madei is the head
00:00:50of Anthropic, Anthropic developed a popular cloud model,
00:00:53now they've made a model.
00:00:57if you like, models, and
00:01:30in artificial intelligence, why are we talking about 6-12
00:01:34months? The thing is, every 3 months there's a small
00:01:37revolution in artificial intelligence, and what
00:01:40was a cutting-edge model 3 months ago is now
00:01:44twice as slow, already becoming obsolete,
00:01:48very, very rapid progress is being made, because they
00:01:51are already training themselves on their own data,
00:01:55at some point they can indeed accidentally, and as
00:01:58a side task. For example, they
00:02:01solve some mathematical equation that humanity has always
00:02:05solved, and in parallel with that, they accidentally hack
00:02:08nuclear power plant systems, in parallel with that, they accidentally
00:02:12bring down all the airplanes, and we have full digitization,
00:02:15they bring down all the banking system, all the databases,
00:02:19that is, they penetrate completely, and they are very good at hacking ours,
00:02:23this is a potentially very serious problem in the near future, we have
00:02:26very, very little time left, but I am obliged to ask you, you have held
00:03:30for many years. in their complexity, they,
00:03:33as experts say, are generally not inferior
00:03:35to American ones, so I think
00:03:39such discussions are going on within the UN, that something needs
00:03:42to be done to somehow limit and
00:03:46control these new types of weapons, these new types
00:03:48of armed struggle, if not prohibit them, you know, we recently
00:03:52heard the second bell, I mean
00:03:55the COVID epidemic and...
00:04:30so that we don't wait for the third one, this was
00:04:34a big game, watch all episodes of our program
00:04:37on the First Channel website, and we will be on air
00:04:40tomorrow,
00:04:49on the First Channel, "Time of Heroes", today a rather unusual program
00:04:53for me, because, of course, I had a person
00:04:56from my native regiment as a guest, a person from my native regiment
00:05:12who would have come
00:05:15from combat operations
00:05:18and would be
00:05:20returning there, that is, would still be in the zone
00:05:24of the special military operation, of course, I did not have one, especially
00:05:27since almost everyone who was in this
00:05:30studio were officers, so
00:05:33today's broadcast is unusual for me
00:05:37also because this is a soldier,
00:05:40or rather a guard...
00:06:12I had known him by correspondence for quite a long time,
00:06:16but by correspondence in the sense that when I came to the front and
00:06:20visited my native regiment, I constantly saw, well, modern
00:06:24warfare, it's a lot of monitors, and on these monitors everywhere
00:06:27it says who is flying, there's Gus flying,
00:06:30there's Zyama flying, there's Kazak flying,
00:06:33there's someone else flying, and here there were always
00:06:37call signs, Chekhov and
00:06:40Husky, these were legendary characters, because
00:06:43I never ran into them, no matter when you arrived, where are they,
00:06:47they're on combat duty, where are they, they're in positions,
00:06:50sometimes it happened that I arrived there within a month,
00:06:54two or three, and they were always in positions, here
00:06:57Chekhov, where's Chekhov, Chekhov is in position, and how long has he been in position, well, like
00:07:013 months in position, and he still hasn't come out,
00:07:05we managed to meet him literally recently, and
00:07:09even that was completely by chance, because on the eve of my...
00:07:13from those places where my native regiment is now,
00:07:16he was withdrawn from his position, only thanks to this we met,
00:07:19well, and I have many more questions for him, besides those that I
00:07:23asked when we met, so I decided that it would be interesting
00:07:27for us to listen to this together with you, let's go!
00:07:59Well, since I started by saying that you and I met in person, but we
00:08:03didn't have much time to talk, we will start,
00:08:07nevertheless, with a question that I always ask everyone who
00:08:10comes here from... let's say, from
00:08:13front-line soldiers, the call sign Chekhov, this one
00:08:17that I have already remembered for quite a long time, you know, as such
00:08:20a legendary one, Chekhov, Chekhov is flying, and I remember, it was always something
00:08:24difficult, so let Chekhov fly there, let Chekhov fly there, why
00:08:28Chekhov? In general, there is nothing symbolic, in principle,
00:08:31when it was time to choose a call sign,
00:08:35I remembered this writer, because once I
00:08:38read in a moving train on...
00:09:42in the last six months there were no tanks, but also
00:09:46dugouts and accordingly infantry,
00:09:49aha, well this raid and accordingly
00:09:53the one you listed, because from January to the present, another
00:09:578 months have passed, this entire cumulative
00:10:00effectiveness of yours, what approximate number, I don't know
00:10:04what you call combat sorties or what it's called,
00:10:08more than 5,000 combat sorties have been made,
00:10:11this is with radio drones. With drones
00:10:15on FPV 5,000, yes,
00:10:18aha, and this is despite the fact that
00:10:22you became a UAV operator, I understand,
00:10:25since autumn 2023, approximately
00:10:29since autumn, yes, since December, perhaps, how long do you spend
00:10:33on combat positions, from where you fly, how often are you
00:10:36there? Well, as soon as the Kursk adventure began,
00:10:39as soon as the enemy entered our country from this region,
00:10:43the pilots were in positions almost non-stop, only
00:10:47when maybe something changed direction, they left
00:10:50for a couple of days, changed into new clothes, so to speak,
00:10:53and drove on.
00:10:56That is, all the time that combat operations were going on
00:10:59in the Kursk region, you practically flew all that time
00:11:03and yes, practically all the time until the moment
00:11:06the Kursk region was completely liberated, we were in positions and
00:11:10worked daily, I had one vacation, maybe for 15
00:11:14days there, that's it, besides
00:11:18the quantitative measurement
00:11:20of the effectiveness or efficiency of the UAV
00:11:24operator, there is also, let's say,
00:11:27a criterion such as the amount of damage inflicted on the enemy,
00:11:31I understand that someone also calculates this, did anyone calculate
00:11:35this for your work? Yes, we have an analytical center
00:11:38at the Popular Front, which daily
00:11:40reviews videos, on the basis of which this
00:11:44statistics generally arises, we upload our
00:11:47videos as reports
00:11:50to messengers, then the analytical center reviews
00:11:53all this and keeps statistics.
00:11:57how much of what was hit, at what moment, this is not only
00:12:00for me, it is kept for every operator from the front, for every
00:12:03operator, yes, that is, the guys there do a lot of work
00:12:07and how much is on your account,
00:12:10according to the Popular Front's calculations, this, what is it,
00:12:14damage to the enemy in money, well, something over
00:12:1670 million dollars, you say it like that,
00:12:20something like 70 million dollars, because
00:12:24we are fighting not for something beautiful, a picture or something
00:12:27beautiful to say, we are fighting
00:12:29because
00:12:31we want to show some result
00:12:35in terms of making the enemy immobilized,
00:12:37de-energized,
00:12:39and scared, and so on, so all these are frames
00:12:43of your specific work, that is, these are not some
00:12:46background frames, we often have background frames of destruction,
00:12:50these are all frames of your work, here, I understand,
00:12:53both automotive
00:13:07equipment and...
00:13:09T-64, well, something around 13, these are exactly destroyed,
00:13:13that is, there were many more hit, which, unfortunately, drove away,
00:13:17so we only count what burned,
00:13:19and I understand that this Abrams, the only one,
00:13:23is on your account. This was the Kursk
00:13:27region, yes, the village
00:13:28of Novoivanovka,
00:13:31uh-huh, and this was the first Abrams hit,
00:13:35I think, in the Kursk region, destroyed in the Kursk region,
00:13:37yes, but it also, as far as I
00:13:41know, was not burned, it was evacuated, and it is
00:13:44somewhere in some place, that is, you hit it, but
00:13:48it remained intact, not burned,
00:13:51that is, it was out of order, as I understood, that they could not continue.
00:14:47Do you have an option to decide yourself how to work, where to work, on whom to work, or is it always
00:14:50a specific task set by someone? Well, in
00:14:54any case, it's a task
00:14:55that we perform,
00:14:58but now there's a more lenient attitude towards
00:15:01drone use after a year of working
00:15:05on them. The possibility of free hunting appeared, that is,
00:15:09independent flights along possible
00:15:12routes, possible approaches where the enemy might be moving.
00:15:15Ambushes were also set up, they began
00:15:19to be set up, meaning legs are attached to the drone, you sit on
00:15:22the road or near the road, these are the so-called "waiters," and you wait
00:15:26for the enemy to pass. If you
00:15:28fly, as you say, in free hunting
00:15:31mode, do you have any
00:15:34target priority?
00:15:39Well, what if you can fly to one place
00:15:41or you see something else, how do you set this
00:15:45priority for yourself, what is primary for you, where will you fly
00:15:48first, if there is such an opportunity? In any case, we will first
00:15:52destroy armored vehicles, artillery, and
00:15:56manpower, that is, for example,
00:15:59if a pickup truck stops, and they
00:16:01see you, then it is better to hit the manpower, because
00:16:05there will be no one to evacuate this pickup.
00:16:10Well, that's the priority, I guess. Is any heavy armored equipment
00:16:14still being used in the area where you work?
00:16:17We haven't seen any for, probably, more than 8
00:16:21months. To encounter a moving IFV or tank
00:16:24is a great stroke of luck. That is, in just
00:16:288 months, we probably only saw two IFVs, and even then
00:16:31it was foggy, the enemy thought that we wouldn't be able to fly
00:16:34and hit them. Again,
00:16:37the FPV drones have the ability to fly low,
00:16:40so the fog is more
00:16:43lenient there, and we caught
00:16:46the enemy by surprise, so to speak, uh-huh.
00:16:49When we talk about NATO
00:16:52equipment, you have to,
00:16:56accordingly, understand and study where their weak
00:16:59points are, yes,
00:17:02as the scope
00:17:05of application expands,
00:17:09that is, with the appearance of FPV drones in the troops, we have
00:17:13all this interaction happening via the Internet with technical support
00:17:16and also
00:17:19wonderful people who are always 24/7 on call,
00:17:23they will help you in any case if you have any defect or failure with the equipment
00:17:26or something doesn't work, and also
00:17:29these people, as
00:17:32a large number of drones appeared, started creating
00:17:36a manual on
00:17:38how to correctly attack enemy equipment,
00:17:42specifically NATO equipment, where its weak points are,
00:17:45and accordingly, you can easily study everything,
00:17:49if you, for example, today hit some
00:17:53Canadian-made armored combat
00:17:55vehicle, you realized that you couldn't set it on fire the first time,
00:17:59you open this manual, look at it, and the next time
00:18:03you make different decisions, but for
00:18:06the manuals to appear, someone has to report data for these manuals,
00:18:10in your case, when you were just starting to work and there was still a lot of
00:18:13equipment, you had to make discoveries
00:18:16yourself about which Western
00:18:20equipment to hit, where best to hit it, we actually
00:18:24accidentally discovered a good vulnerable part of the American
00:18:27Bradley, when in
00:18:30the area of the same settlement of Novoivanovka,
00:18:34it was driving towards me, and I was flying, well, towards it.
00:18:37I had already stopped, hovered over the road, it just, roughly speaking, ran over the drone with its undercarriage
00:18:41and immediately caught fire, as it turned out, their fuel tank
00:18:45was there, uh-huh, and
00:18:48we burned five more Bradleys over the next month using the same
00:18:52principle, and, well, of course,
00:18:55we told everyone about it, well, we always share
00:18:58information, and based on that, some video
00:19:02lessons were even created by the guys
00:19:05who produce KVN, uh-huh. How to hit, why to hit,
00:19:09that is, you learn yourself in the process, there is
00:19:13a generalization, accumulation of data, which every
00:19:16operator can then view, yes, that's right,
00:19:19now we rewind to the conversation about how you got to
00:19:23this point, where it all began, that is,
00:19:27the army was initially your goal,
00:19:31the army, military service, how did you get into
00:19:34the army, did you always dream about it or how did it happen?
00:19:48class made such a decision to also enter a military school,
00:19:51the Academy of Logistics in St. Petersburg,
00:19:55a technical institute, I understand, yes, but it has a technical
00:19:58institute, and so I went there, it turns out, in
00:20:02July 2015, well, unfortunately, I didn't get in, I didn't
00:20:06pass the competition. And then
00:20:10I started ordinary studies at civilian universities,
00:20:13after that, in 2019, I finished
00:20:16and signed a contract with the 56th brigade, uh-huh,
00:20:20the 56th brigade, it was still a brigade at that time,
00:20:22which at that time was located
00:20:25in Kamyshin.
00:20:30Well, you were born, I understand, you in Moscow,
00:20:33I was born in Moscow, yes, my father was at that time...
00:20:37served here in Moscow, because of this
00:20:41it happened that, well, I lived the first month of my life here and then we moved there, that
00:20:44is, you're a Kamyshin kid, yes, I'm a Kamyshin kid,
00:20:48but that's what caught me.
00:21:20was a waiter during my studies, and sometimes even worked in my profession,
00:21:23so it had absolutely no relation to the army or technical
00:21:27specialties, that is, you were confidently
00:21:30pursuing a civilian career, judging by
00:21:33the photos I saw, all sorts of studies
00:21:36there, in student
00:21:39theaters you played and so on, this
00:21:43guy, who, judging by this photo
00:21:47in an armchair with a bow tie and so on, everything, in principle,
00:21:50you liked civilian life? Yes, in principle, we
00:21:54always like everything. So, you liked all that in
00:21:57civilian life. I understand that you're in a waiter's uniform,
00:22:01performing somewhere on stage, and in 2019,
00:22:04you sign a contract. Why? Well, it happened that after
00:22:08studying at the university, you have to do conscript service,
00:22:12but now we have the opportunity to immediately
00:22:15sign a contract for 2 years, so it was
00:22:19decided to sign a contract, because I was already working, earning
00:22:22money, and well, helping my family, I couldn't afford
00:22:25not to have some monthly income. What was your specialty?
00:22:29A radio telegraphy mechanic, a signalman, roughly speaking,
00:22:33in the signals company, I signed a contract. Well, it happened that some
00:22:36of my friends and acquaintances served in this unit,
00:22:40and therefore it was decided to go there,
00:22:43uh-huh, because it was easier, so, in 2019,
00:22:46after signing the contract, in 2021, when the regiment
00:22:50moved to Feodosia, you moved with it, yes, you extended the contract
00:22:54for a year, but why did you extend it, you could have not extended it,
00:22:57I had a wonderful commander who died in 2022, whom I
00:23:01followed, well, with whom I wanted to serve, in February 2022
00:23:05combat operations begin, how did you generally
00:23:08meet all this, what were your thoughts
00:23:11about this, ideas, feelings, sensations, that
00:23:14you got into, well, almost immediately,
00:23:17I assume, into such a powerful
00:23:20fight, yes, for most it was a surprise,
00:23:24but
00:23:27frankly, when I was applying for the contract, my late
00:23:30commander asked me such a question, he said we are a combat unit,
00:23:34we go on combat missions, are you ready for this? I said, of course, I am ready,
00:23:38with this thought, with this conviction,
00:23:41accordingly, we accepted what
00:23:45began with the beginning of combat operations, and
00:23:49well, a paratrooper is always ready,
00:23:52no other way,
00:23:55uh-huh, and I understand that the first
00:23:58stage of participation in the SVO for you was also
00:24:01in the signals platoon, in the signals company, that's right, in the signals company,
00:24:05there was a specific position, I walked with
00:24:08a radio station next to the regimental chief of staff,
00:24:12so that he was constantly in contact, uh-huh,
00:24:15that's called a radio operator's position,
00:24:19and accordingly, where
00:24:22was that moment, and I'm interested, where was that
00:24:25moment when you, well, a radio telegrapher,
00:24:29a signalman, radios,
00:24:32and how did you get into drones? Well, at that moment, I assume there were no
00:24:36drones anyway, uh-huh, this
00:24:40moment, when people already having combat experience and a combat specialty,
00:24:44like in your case, how did it start with drones? In 2023,
00:24:47I was already serving in the airborne assault battalion,
00:24:50well, also... in the signal platoon, and the opportunity
00:24:54arose to train on
00:24:57FPV, to start working on FPV,
00:25:00uh-huh, by this time, calculations began to form
00:25:03in the regiment's reconnaissance company, they already started flying
00:25:07slowly, Husky trained, they already had combat
00:25:10applications, combat sorties, and we
00:25:13went to Belgorod, there were just experienced
00:25:17guys who understood how the drone is built, how the radio equipment
00:25:20is built, uh-huh. They shared all this experience with us,
00:25:24taught us, we already saw numerous photos
00:25:26of your training,
00:25:30when you were young, did you play video games, did you have any
00:25:33gaming experience, yes, we, with the guys,
00:25:36often sat at the computer, played together,
00:25:40went somewhere or stayed at home, I had experience, but
00:25:44I'll say, everyone thinks that it's somehow
00:25:47interconnected, well, here...
00:25:51there is no connection, you control a drone, which flies on
00:25:54blades, well, due to some movements, I don't know, I didn't see any
00:25:58connection with games at all, to be honest.
00:26:02You don't see a connection with games from the perspective
00:26:06of controlling a drone, but from the perspective of selecting
00:26:09people for training, could this play a role? Well, let's
00:26:12say, I never played video games, I don't know
00:26:16what that gamepad is or whatever you call it, joystick,
00:26:19shmoystick, and so on, did that play a role then in selecting those
00:26:23who would go to study? No, no, it didn't play a role then, here you really just need to
00:26:27be
00:26:30able to adapt to different situations and
00:27:02but not the most important thing, when we came to training,
00:27:06the guys showed us their videos, I saw their work, how they
00:27:10hit tanks at that time, and cars, and, of course,
00:27:13we had great motivation to develop quickly in this,
00:27:17and we saw in it an interesting future,
00:27:21you, your comrades,
00:27:23understanding that you were mastering a new military specialty and seeing its
00:27:27effectiveness in these videos, could you
00:27:30imagine that this would become?
00:27:32In fact, well, for the most
00:27:35part, an instrument of a new
00:27:38type of war, we probably didn't imagine it on such a scale,
00:27:41but there was some understanding that this is
00:27:45the future, it's worth working with,
00:27:48and it's worth developing it by leaps
00:27:52and bounds, it can certainly change even more
00:27:55and improve due to the fact that
00:27:58now both we and the enemy
00:28:01are starting to actively master artificial
00:28:05intelligence, soon
00:28:08drones will fly independently, hit targets
00:28:11independently, I suppose, because
00:28:14progress does not stand still, war is our engine of progress,
00:28:18so yes, I think,
00:28:21it can certainly change everything even more,
00:28:25and what will happen then to your profession, to drone operators,
00:28:29if artificial intelligence will, as you say, occupy
00:28:32more and more of the niche?
00:28:35Or will the role of humans still be, well,
00:28:39inevitable?
00:28:41Well, artificial intelligence won't be a panacea, in any case,
00:28:45physical control will be
00:28:48necessary, well, that's probably already in the realm
00:28:51of science fiction, that robots will replace us,
00:28:54by the way, I wanted to ask you not about robots replacing you,
00:28:58you as, well, a practitioner,
00:29:00yes, with great experience,
00:29:33it will come true from the point of view of you, a practitioner, who explains
00:29:36all this on his fingers,
00:29:40well, combat operations are always associated
00:29:42with people, in any case, with
00:29:45occupying, seizing some lines, that
00:29:49is, liberating, as we had in the Kursk
00:29:52region, settlements, again, from the enemy,
00:29:55therefore,
00:29:57honestly, probably some movies might be, well, if there are robots
00:30:01just without physical participation of people,
00:30:04no, I don't see that, it was the battles in the Kursk
00:30:08region that, in fact, became
00:30:11the first experience of mass use of
00:30:13fiber optics, and I understand that you were one of those
00:30:17who first started flying with this
00:30:20fiber optics, when did you first encounter this
00:30:24fiber optic technology, and how did you initially
00:30:27evaluate it? When I first
00:30:30saw it, actually, six months before... before that, someone told me, "Soon there will be drones
00:30:34on fiber optics," I twisted my fingers, saying, "What are you talking about?"
00:30:37It was incomprehensible, I didn't believe it, I didn't believe it, but I just didn't understand
00:30:41technically how it would be implemented, and I didn't think about it,
00:30:45so most likely yes, that's why I didn't believe it,
00:30:48in 2024, in October,
00:30:51at that time, Husky was already flying
00:30:54on fiber optics for 2 months, he was lucky enough
00:30:58to learn,
00:31:01and I was also sent...
00:31:03well, they decided that I should also fly on fiber optics, oh, radio,
00:31:07well, before that we worked with radio drones with our crew,
00:31:11I went to Khaki's position, I arrived.
00:31:17He told me how this drone is assembled, what to connect where, how to
00:31:20launch it, we made one flight, it was literally a day, well, I
00:31:24lived at their position and that's it, the training was over,
00:31:27I contacted the KVN instructors,
00:31:30we had a conversation, they asked questions, and
00:31:33that's it, it turned out the calculation of how much time from the moment
00:31:37Husky showed
00:31:40you this, told you about it, and answered some of your
00:31:43questions, until you, well, to put it
00:31:46in such an elevated language, confidently took
00:31:50flight, within a week we already
00:31:53started flying drones with a button in the window. A week is so
00:31:56long because we moved to another position,
00:31:59prepared it. In my basement, we
00:32:03always worked together with the Mavic crew, that is, short-range
00:32:06reconnaissance, and the first two
00:32:09drones crashed. Well, something went wrong, maybe I was too nervous
00:32:12somewhere. Yes, I was too nervous. It was even a big responsibility
00:32:16actually. The first, probably, 100 flights
00:32:19were shaky. The first 100 flights, and that was in how much time? 100
00:32:23flights - that's in how much time? At
00:32:26that time, with a small number of drones, it was probably
00:32:29a month, uh-huh, oh no, even 2
00:32:33months.
00:32:35So, on the third flight, my deceased
00:32:39comrade, the sapper, and I were already setting up the drone. At
00:32:42that moment, it was a codename, and we saw a Bradley. How it was driving,
00:32:45it was, well, about 3 km away from us, driving on a
00:32:49hill, and it so happened that we physically saw it and
00:32:52hit it, uh-huh, but unfortunately it drove away because back then
00:32:55we hadn't discovered the secret yet, yes, we hadn't
00:32:59figured out where to hit it. Tell me,
00:33:02what makes up
00:33:05the secret
00:33:09of success when
00:33:11a person who has flown FPV, that is, has
00:33:15some skills, masters
00:33:18a new technology, something like that shows it to him, and he flies? Is
00:33:22it a skill, roughly speaking, of hands, or is it due
00:33:25to the structure of the mind or character, or some
00:33:28things, I don't know, some genetics, what plays
00:33:32a role here, that a person succeeds? In your case, for example,
00:33:35most likely, it's a combination of everything
00:33:39you just listed. A good operator, I believe, should
00:33:42wake up with the thought that someone will die today, but
00:34:15the opportunity to go online, we watched how other
00:34:19operators did something and also highlighted some
00:34:22moments for ourselves. So an operator must constantly
00:34:26develop, not stand still. This is more
00:34:29an internal responsibility,
00:34:31to
00:34:33show yourself, to prove yourself more
00:34:36adequately, well, not to lose face, so to speak, because the whole family
00:34:40is officers, I am a sergeant.
00:34:43I have to be. A Soviet officer, and
00:34:56it so happened that I grew up without a father. My grandfather was a male
00:34:59authority figure for me and my family, whom I look up to,
00:35:02rely on and take an example from, so to speak. By
00:35:06the way, I see, there was a photo just now, he
00:35:09has a Red Star, if I'm not mistaken, yes, the Order of the Red Star.
00:35:13This is for flights in the Baltic
00:35:15Sea, meaning Latvia, Denmark, I understand. So
00:35:19over NATO countries. So in this sense, you
00:35:22had an interesting situation. Your grandfather flew over NATO countries in
00:35:25a plane, and you burn NATO equipment flying
00:35:29on fiber optics. Somewhere there were bigger birds, just my
00:35:33grandfather had bigger birds, well, and that's how I
00:35:37call his bird, yes, yes. He flew on many fighters.
00:35:40Well, listen,
00:35:43your grandfather had bigger birds...
00:35:52After the commercial, about your combat path in
00:35:53drones,
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00:40:58Well, for me, this is a very interesting opportunity, I am sure that for those who
00:41:02watch the program, this is a completely new story, in
00:41:05modern warfare, these drone operators, and of course, the story of
00:41:09how people become them, how this
00:41:12experience is gained, how this war changes. You have already
00:41:15mentioned KVN several times, about KVN
00:41:18manufacturers,
00:41:20and I understand that this, let's say,
00:41:24connection with them is very...
00:41:28exactly with KVN. How does your work with KVN
00:41:32players generally get built,
00:41:35considering that we are on Channel One? Well, initially,
00:41:37when you became an operator... I interrupt. To this day, I still encounter
00:41:41the fact that not everyone knows how KVN is deciphered: Prince Vandal Novgorodsky.
00:41:45Prince Vandal Novgorodsky.
00:41:48Well, it's exclusively a Russian theme, everything started from Rus.
00:41:52This idea, all subsequent products,
00:41:55accordingly have names of some
00:41:58princes, well, in their abbreviation. And what other
00:42:01princes are there in the row? For example, Prince Oleg is
00:42:05KVO, a reconnaissance aircraft,
00:42:08and KVS is Prince Vladimir
00:42:11Svyatoslavovich. So, the whole abbreviation is related to
00:42:14Novgorod princes and so on. Uh-huh.
00:42:17Uh-huh. When I became a drone
00:42:21operator on the optical fiber, we were added to the general
00:42:24group. We have technical support,
00:42:27in which technical support staff are on duty 24/7.
00:42:31At any moment, well, if you have internet at
00:42:35your position, they will answer any of your questions,
00:42:38help you with your problem related to
00:42:41drones, well, possibly not even drones,
00:42:43there are other
00:42:46things. And that's how we worked. Last
00:42:50year, they decided to create a factory
00:42:53team based on several operators from
00:42:56the front. Uh-huh, so we joined this
00:42:59team, consisting of five servicemen.
00:43:02It was engaged in that
00:43:04some innovations came into the drone,
00:43:08for example, an initiation board. And
00:43:10we conducted combat approbation,
00:43:14well, in combat conditions, how a new
00:43:17thing would behave, and there all in this team, they are
00:43:21um, well, combat, meaning they perform combat missions, yes,
00:43:25also famous operators like Katana,
00:43:28Buratino, Nebokot, Katana,
00:43:31Buratino, Nebokot,
00:43:34and Kot, yes, uh-huh,
00:43:37and also yes. the unit.
00:43:54Look, the fact that
00:43:58you are part of this team and that
00:44:02you are truly a professional and
00:44:06know this equipment and have studied it, was evident in the fact that when...
00:44:11someone was needed to, at
00:44:14the exhibition of achievements of this
00:44:17part of the national economy, talk about these
00:44:21drones, they chose you, and they didn't just
00:44:24choose you, given the visit of one
00:44:27person there, I understand that
00:44:30they chose the very best.
00:44:34Everything worked out, let's see how it was, we'll remind you,
00:44:38everyone else will find out, let's watch. Thanks to the work of the national PC, we are regularly
00:44:41supplied with a large number of products, which we successfully use to
00:44:45destroy the enemy. It immediately became clear that
00:44:48they are promising and effective, and during
00:44:51their use, some changes have occurred: night
00:44:54cameras have appeared, smaller drones have appeared
00:44:57for more effective support of assault groups, when you need to drive the enemy out
00:45:01of some hole, so to speak. Extended range
00:45:04coils up to 23 km have appeared, which
00:45:07allow us to close off distant paths and destroy enemy
00:45:11artillery. When I said one person, I meant
00:45:14that you already knew, when preparing
00:45:18to present all this equipment,
00:45:21you knew that the president would be there? Yes, of course, this
00:45:24exhibition was designed for him to
00:45:28see how everything is happening, how
00:45:30it works. Well, he really likes, I
00:45:34understand, to be interested in everything,
00:45:37to delve into some questions more, more
00:45:40detailed and deeper. All products were
00:45:44presented there, that is, both radio drones,
00:45:47planes, and Baba Yagas
00:45:50of our own production, so I had to delve into some things
00:45:53because I didn't work on everything, but practically we work on everything,
00:45:56we worked while developing, and even if we didn't work,
00:46:00we understand how it is structured, how it flies,
00:46:04and well, we are always interested in everything, well, we don't stand still,
00:46:07we constantly try to understand this information, because
00:46:10well, you need to constantly develop in this,
00:46:14if you don't, then you probably
00:46:18won't achieve the necessary
00:46:20success.
00:46:23This is July 2025, so accordingly, more
00:46:27than a year has passed since then. Compared to what
00:46:30and how it was when you told the supreme
00:46:34commander about it, and what it is now,
00:46:38what has changed from what...
00:46:52I presented last year, that is, twice as much in terms
00:46:55of distance, yes, there was a coil for a maximum of 23 km, now
00:46:59there are already coils for 42 km, 42, yes,
00:47:03so the same reconnaissance
00:47:06planes now fly better and
00:47:09further, and well, a lot of changes have actually
00:47:12happened there. Speaking of these
00:47:15changes, I often, when on
00:47:18the front, when I talk to the guys, hear that...
00:47:23we periodically have to catch up with
00:47:26the enemy. You say that we fly at
00:47:2942. I have already seen and held in my hands,
00:47:33by the way, in our
00:47:34regiment,
00:47:38an enemy fiber optic drone with a coil for
00:47:4250 km. I heard there are
00:47:4460. These
00:47:48races, from your point of view...
00:48:11to invent a coil with a long range, because many
00:48:15associated problems arise there. It needs to be properly wound so that it unwinds properly,
00:48:18there must be specific weather conditions,
00:48:22a specific drone must be increased from 10 inches, for
00:48:26example, to 15, to carry all this, plus
00:48:29ammunition is also needed.
00:48:31And
00:48:34many associated moments, which,
00:48:38yes, because of them, such ideas and projects are
00:48:42difficult to implement, but the race will
00:48:45always be with the enemy, we try to be
00:48:49better in any case, we look at what new
00:48:52things he invented, we delve into it, we delve into each
00:48:56product, also the KVN factory, it asks
00:49:00for a drone on the optical fiber so that it understands
00:49:02what the enemy uses, how he works on
00:49:05this, so that we understand what to work with, what
00:49:09to focus on next, uh-huh.
00:49:12And do you have any opportunity to study
00:49:16the enemy's experience, how
00:49:19do you generally заочно a-uh?
00:49:22work with him in this sense, do you study him? What do
00:49:26you need to study his experience? Is it
00:49:29videos, or do you go into some of their groups? How does
00:49:32that generally work? We constantly
00:49:35watch, uh, we sit in groups,
00:49:38we count what changes they have, well, in
00:49:42open sources, accordingly, what new
00:49:45things they have. Also, drones that fall to us and don't explode, we
00:49:49also either, well, study them ourselves, then give them to technical
00:49:52study. Well, that means they are sitting
00:49:55with us. It's not excluded, by the way,
00:49:59when you fly to a target,
00:50:03knowing that in case
00:50:06of a successful hit, if you succeed, you will kill
00:50:10people there, the better, the more, does this thought about
00:50:14people somehow figure in your head, in
00:50:17your hands, in your actions
00:50:20at that moment?
00:50:23Or do you focus on something
00:50:25else? We focus on
00:50:28the fact that these are people whom we will most likely
00:50:31kill, so that they don't approach our advanced positions
00:50:34and cause any
00:50:36damage
00:50:39to us, possibly, and to the guys we serve and
00:50:42work with. And what about situations with
00:50:46civilians or presumed civilians? Well,
00:50:49for example, you flew out, you see a car driving.
00:50:53You definitely, here's
00:50:56a specific video of your work, where a
00:50:59car is driving, and it's clear that you didn't, didn't
00:51:02attack it. How is it with you, and
00:51:06you, as I understand, after that, according to this caption "no
00:51:09image", that this car ripped
00:51:13your optics? In this situation, based on what do you make or not
00:51:16make a decision? Well, I have a principle in my
00:51:20head that I will not work on civilians,
00:51:22on women, on children. We have exclusively military
00:51:25targets, uh-huh. Well, in my understanding, that's correct, that's how it should
00:51:29be. That is, unfortunately, the enemy does not have such
00:51:32an understanding. At present, we see what
00:51:36is happening, that is, civilians are dying in large
00:51:39numbers, but
00:51:43we were given weapons to fight the enemy, not
00:51:46civilians. This is a very
00:51:50important story, and that's why I...
00:51:53I'm sure many, well, even the guys who are fighting, many will watch this, some will agree,
00:51:57some will not agree. For me,
00:52:01well, from the point of view of my profession, this statement of the question is very important.
00:52:05Exactly because, as you said, it is at this specific point
00:52:09that our difference from the enemy is manifested,
00:52:12that
00:52:15for us, it is fundamentally not about killing
00:52:18anyone, but about killing the enemy. This is
00:52:21an important story, because indeed they are now working a lot on civilians
00:52:25and on buses and on the peaceful population, and it is very important to remember this,
00:52:28because yes, war is war, war is about
00:52:31cruelty and about the necessity of killing the enemy, but for me, it was
00:52:35very important, why, knowing about this video, why I
00:52:39specifically wanted you to talk about it. One more
00:52:42story, regarding let's say, balance and
00:52:45calmness. Now everyone hangs everything with
00:52:49nets, and something else, and something else. Can
00:52:53you fly anywhere? Does it
00:52:56even make sense to cover yourself with these camouflage
00:52:59nets and so on, or will an experienced operator not
00:53:02be stopped by it? It hinders. Absolutely, it
00:53:05creates direct interference in the work. We
00:53:09have often found ourselves tangled in nets when approaching a weapon
00:53:13or some enemy shelter, and everything is covered
00:53:16with fishing nets. It hinders, but in any case, we will achieve our goal, that is,
00:53:20we will burn these nets somewhere, blow them up, so that
00:53:24a passage appears. But if
00:53:26there is - so to speak,
00:53:29a hole, an opening in the net where
00:53:32a drone can fit, then we will fly through it. And
00:53:35of course, one of our biggest
00:53:39headaches for everyone, on all sections
00:53:42of the front, are Baba Yagas. And generally enemy
00:53:46drones. And I heard that
00:53:49now quite often there is
00:53:52this war of drones in the air. How often,
00:53:55how actively do you work against the enemy?
00:53:59Hmm, sometimes you fly on a free hunt, looking for a target, or
00:54:03you fly to a specific target? You might meet a Vabnyaga on the way,
00:54:06or you know where the enemy has
00:54:09UAV crews. They often use matrices and
00:54:13Mavics to hang an airborne repeater.
00:54:17In principle, you know where this is possible, maybe you
00:54:20fly by and a repeater is hanging,
00:54:23accordingly, you will destroy it, because well,
00:54:26this
00:54:28will not kill anyone, but it will create
00:54:32a number of problems for them, uh-huh. If you
00:54:35fly on a free hunt and you see a Baba Yaga, you
00:54:39attack her anyway.
00:54:43At first, yes, we always attacked, then I decided
00:54:46that I would escort her home and understand where
00:54:50the crew was located. That is, several times it happened that we
00:54:53flew right behind her, saw how she landed and
00:54:57started to leave, we worked on, well, the area of the operators who
00:55:01took her, so to speak. This is...
00:55:35and you, accordingly, are a priority target for them too, as I understand, right?
00:55:38Yes, they spare nothing if they find you, all
00:55:42weapons, all drones fly over, we'll have to change
00:55:45position immediately. We make fake positions. When we worked with radio drones,
00:55:49they often started breaking
00:55:53us. Well, FPV drones flew in and specifically targeted our equipment,
00:55:56which was set up somewhere, hidden in branches.
00:55:58And literally within a week, a lot of our equipment was destroyed.
00:56:02We... decided to set up many fake models,
00:56:06that is, already broken ones. Well, we carefully covered them
00:56:10with tape, and we raised
00:56:13our masts for the duration of the flight, hid them in
00:56:16corn, then raised them when we needed to fly,
00:56:19and hid them back, put them in
00:56:21corn.
00:56:23Here's the crew, you said the word "crew" several times,
00:56:27we with the crew.
00:56:29Given that you can be on active duty for several
00:56:32months, how do you yourself...
00:57:05it's probably more for you to sit in the same hole for 3-4
00:57:08months. We are such animals that
00:57:11adapt to everything and everyone, so you will get used to everything anyway, to any
00:57:15person, well, everyone
00:57:17who serves with us is mostly adequate people, so everyone will find a common
00:57:21language. I cannot
00:57:24not say about this, that I
00:57:28wanted to ask you about your awards. I asked
00:57:32you this question completely by chance before
00:57:35the broadcast. I still, maybe I didn't
00:57:38understand something. You just put them on here with
00:57:40me on the broadcast for the first time,
00:57:44yes, you put on these awards for the first time.
00:57:48For the broadcast, so to speak.
00:57:50That is, you, you never even, I see you
00:57:54were at the exhibition there, so you never
00:57:58even put them on? No, I didn't put them on just because
00:58:01when to wear them. Were there just
00:58:05no occasions, or do you, so to speak, not consider
00:58:08it, well, I don't know, yes, firstly,
00:58:12yes, there were no occasions,
00:58:13and secondly,
00:58:16I don't have any desire to show
00:58:20off or display them. Uh-huh, well, I
00:58:23really hope that - I wish
00:58:26you maximum success, first of all, of course, in your combat
00:58:30work. I really hope that to these worthy combat
00:58:34awards other worthy combat
00:58:37awards will be added.
00:58:40Here's
00:58:44the last question I ask everyone in this...
00:58:50Time of Heroes, who in your understanding is a hero?
00:58:53How do you understand who a hero
00:58:56is?
00:58:59A hero is a person who, firstly,
00:59:02will not strive to be a hero, will perform
00:59:05some things, based
00:59:08on his love for humanity, so to speak,
00:59:12for his homeland,
00:59:15patriotism, which...
00:59:26and not to become a hero, who will throw himself into everything for some
00:59:28sincere love for something and
00:59:32attitude, and
00:59:35responsibility. Thank you very much.
00:59:39Thank you.
00:59:45We were very afraid that this could
00:59:48happen. When we realized that the plane with the Greek delegation had landed, we
00:59:51crossed ourselves, thanked God, and realized that the saint
00:59:55had arrived. We didn't know what we were carrying, we leave, the church choir
00:59:58is already singing, we have made our reverence, perhaps it is a miracle. Saint
01:00:02Spyridon, his relics are incorruptible, relics, even
01:00:05the word itself, is power, power in
01:00:09the remains of a saint. All our sisters came out to meet
01:00:12the relics, as it should be. Most of the miracles during
01:00:16Spyridon's lifetime are connected with
01:00:19helping those who need
01:00:22money or simply a miracle. This
01:00:25certificate that we received for the purchase
01:00:28of housing, we keep it as a family relic. Whoever honors
01:00:32Spyridon will not be left homeless, as if he is alive,
01:00:35walking the earth, helping all those in need, miracles
01:00:39of some kind, I just asked, everything
01:00:42is already coming true for me. Premiere, special report,
01:00:46Saint Spyridon Journey Across Russia
01:00:49tomorrow on Channel One.
01:01:01Choose Ozon. Diapers and pull-ups June from
01:01:05800.