The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
In the 25th Separate Airborne Sicheslav Brigade, servicewomen operate combat UAV units — FPV drones and reconnaissance drones — and perform combat missions on par with men.
This was reported in a segment of the “United News” TV marathon.
Brittney “Beetle”: from a tank to FPV
Brittney, callsign “Beetle”, is a captain in the Canadian army. Earlier she trained Ukrainian tank crews on Leopard 2, but at some point realized her experience was more needed at the front rather than in rear training centers.
Her path into the Armed Forces of Ukraine was not easy.
“They told me ‘no’ for a tank crew position. First reason — the language; I didn’t know Ukrainian yet. Second — because I’m a woman. But the 25th Brigade gave me a chance to sign the contract”, — Brittney recalls.
She quickly mastered the T-80. On her very first sortie, her crew destroyed a concentration of infantry and a fortified Russian position at a train station. When heavy equipment gradually ceded priority to drones at the front, “Beetle” retrained. Today she is an FPV pilot in the UAV platoon of the tank battalion.
Recently, Brittney completed an 8-kilometer march to evacuate two comrades. The route was hellish: vehicles exploded nearby, the evacuation truck was burned by enemy drones, and she had to spend the night in tree lines waiting for new transport. But the mission was completed.
“They didn’t want to let me go to positions”
Serving alongside Brittney is Malika. Before the full-scale war, she worked with children with autism. During training, instructors told her she would become a clerk or medic — allegedly no one would take her as a drone pilot.
Now Malika is an effective Mavic operator. She recently returned from a deployment where she spent 17 days straight.
“The hardest part is entering and exiting positions due to the intensity of enemy drones. This time we were lucky — thick fog hid us from the enemy’s sky”, — she says.
Motivation is 90% of success
The platoon commander, callsign “Masalyot”, says plainly: gender has no significance in UAV work.
“A woman can fly any drone — reconnaissance or strike. The main thing is desire. This is 90% of success. And they show initiative first”.
His words are confirmed by the platoon’s driver “Tsyhan”:
“Brittney is in no way inferior to men, and sometimes fights even better. She is very focused and responsible. All the women in our unit are outstanding — they effectively complete combat missions”.
Modern war opens new specialties where physical strength is outweighed by concentration, technological skill, and iron endurance. The women of the Sicheslav Airborne Brigade are direct proof that limits in the Ukrainian army exist only for those who lack the motivation to break them.
