Hairdresser by day, drone hunter by night: He helps defend skies over Ukraine
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Hairdresser and Ukrainian Territorial Defence unit volunteer Oleksandr Shamshur with a client in his salon in Kyiv, on Jan 11, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
KYIV - A hairdresser by day and a “drone hunter” by night, Mr Oleksandr Shamshur, 41, is among tens of thousands of volunteers helping to defend the skies over Ukraine against Russian attacks.
As the first-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion
Members of his Territorial Defence unit, including a lawyer and a businessman, respond to air raid alerts in and around the capital Kyiv by seeking to down Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones with a restored World War II machine gun.
“I am a very happy person. Why? Because I am defending my country, I am defending our Ukrainian people,” Mr Shamshur said as he combed the capital’s moonlit skyline using a thermal camera with a range finder from his position on a rooftop.
Nearby, a fellow fighter was adjusting the green barrels of a Soviet-made Maxim machine gun.
“But at the same time, I can come to the beauty salon and work with the people, do the work I know, cut hair and talk to clients,” said Mr Shamshur.
He said it never occurred to him as a civilian to “run away and hide somewhere” when tens of thousands of Russian armoured forces stormed into a stunned Ukraine last winter and began bombarding Kyiv and other cities.
“With the enemy at the doorstep, I had to do something, I had to act in defence,” he said.
During the night of Dec 29 and 30, Mr Shamshur said his rooftop unit shot down two drones over Kyiv. His team has also passed on the skills it has learnt to other units.
Mr Oleksandr Shamshur and his fellow fighters check Maxim machine guns as they guard against Russian suicide drones, in Kyiv, on Feb 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Shamshur sports several badges on his camouflage uniform, including one, Drone Hunters, in English, and another in Ukrainian reading Ronin – a feudal Japanese warrior – that he has adopted as his nom de guerre.
When Russia invaded, Mr Shamshur – an army reservist before the war – learnt that his military base had been destroyed by Russian shelling, so he joined the Territorial Defence unit, initially delivering food to civilians and helping to evacuate people.
At work in his salon, still wearing military khakis as he styled a client’s hair, he said he tries not to talk to his clients about the war, calling it “dark” in contrast to the “light” in this peaceful part of his life. REUTERS
