Andrii Pokrasa’s drone helped stopped the Russian invasion of Kyiv.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, remote-controlled drones have been an integral part of the Ukrainian counter-effort. The drones and their pilots are used by the Ukrainian military to keep tabs on the Russian soldiers from out of harm’s way, allowing the Ukrainian soldiers to stay on top of their attacks.

During the early days of the Russian invasion of Kyiv, the Ukrainian military did not have any drones or operators available, which made it difficult to track a large column of Russian troops and vehicles. Luckily, they received aid from an unlikely source: 15-year-old Andrii Pokrasa who, through a connection to the Ukrainian soldiers made through his father, volunteered the use of his personal hobby drone to find the exact coordinates of the Russian forces.

“They provided us information where approximately the Russian column could be. Our goal was to find the exact coordinates and provide the coordinates to the soldiers,” Pokrasa said in an interview with Global News. “It was one of the biggest columns that was moving on the Zhytomyr road and we managed to find it because one of the trucks turned on its lights for a long time.”

With Pokrasa’s aid, the Ukranian military was able to pinpoint the Russian troop column and stop it in its tracks with a counter-offensive. The military thanked Pokrasa for his help, saying that it is thanks to his aid and the aid of other volunteer drone operators that Kyiv was successfully protected.

“He was the only one who was experienced with drones in that region,” said Ukrainian armed forces commander Yurii Kasjanov. “He’s a real hero, a hero of Ukraine.”