Valerii was exempt from mobilization as an Energoatom specialist. But on the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he voluntarily arrived at the recruitmen

His story was published by the 160th Odessa Air Defense Brigade.

Among the diverse professions in the Armed Forces, atomic energy specialists are rare — such enterprises are few, and their personnel are usually reserved from mobilization.

Over the years of service, he has fought in almost all key directions — Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kursk, Sumy. Recently, he has been defending the skies of Odesa region as part of an air-defense unit.

Now Valerii is a machine gunner in a mobile fire group of the brigade.

During the night of February 27, 2026, he shot down an enemy Shahed drone with a heavy machine gun — his first personal downed UAV.

“I acted as trained: search — tracking — lead — fire. You can’t always destroy the target, but that night I hit it, and it fell into the sea. I’m very glad because the drone didn’t reach its intended target”, — he said.

Valerii is 51. His 26-year-old son also serves in the Armed Forces.

“How can I stay aside if my son is in the army? Defending the country is a civic and manly duty. Support from my family and humor help me get through these years. When someone mentions my mobilization exemption, I jokingly show my paper ‘reservation’, but every night we put on real armor, take up arms, and go out to protect our sky”.