KIEF (Daily Pakistan Online) A barber by day and ‘drone hunter’ by night, Oleksandr Shamshwar, 41, is among the tens of thousands of volunteers helping to defend Ukraine’s skies against Russian attacks.
As the first anniversary of Russia’s February 24 attack approaches, Ukraine is becoming increasingly adept at shooting down Russian missiles and drones fired at cities far from the front lines, according to Reuters. Barber Shamshwar is proud of his role. Members of his regional defense unit include a lawyer and a businessman. They attempt to shoot down Iranian-made Shahid 136 drones with repurposed World War II machine guns while responding to airstrike alerts in and around the capital city of Kiev.
“I am a very happy person,” said Shamshwar, looking at the capital’s skyline through a thermal camera with a rangefinder from his position on the roof. Why? Because I am defending my country, I am defending my Ukrainian people.’
He said that as a common citizen, it never occurred to him to run away and hide somewhere. Shamshwar says he does what he is good at during the day, which is cutting people’s hair and defending the country at night. According to Shamshwar, on the night of December 29 and 30, his unit shot down two drones over Kiev.
