A 22-year-old Khrystyna from Sumy Region joined the military to pursue her dream and shot down an enemy drone on her first combat mission.

The 14th Army Corps reported this.

Khrystyna is 22 years old. She serves in the anti-aircraft missile division of the 14th Army Corps and now operates Stinger and P1-Sun FPV interceptor drones. She joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine only six months ago, although, as she says, she had dreamed of military service since she was 18.

Her decision became final after she saw Ukrainian drones flying over her hometown in Sumy Region toward the Russian border.

“Mom, I’m going to fly!” Khrystyna told her mother at the time.

As Russian attacks on the border areas intensified, she went to a Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centre.

After completing basic military training, she underwent specialist instruction. To master her new profession as quickly as possible, she trained on a simulator for 7–8 hours a day over two months. Her first training flight was unsuccessful — Khrystyna lost the drone. But her first combat mission turned out very differently.

“My hands were shaking, but the feeling and joy were incredible,” the servicewoman recalls of successfully intercepting her first Russian Shahed.

Today, she confidently operates from combat positions, shooting down enemy drones attacking Ukrainian cities and villages.

Despite the war, Khrystyna says she also loves her job because it gives her an opportunity to see Ukraine from above. Her next professional goal is to learn how to operate Leleka-100 and Furia reconnaissance systems and to get her own RadioMaster TX16S controller for carrying out combat missions.

The defender is now looking forward to a long-awaited leave. She dreams of hugging her mother and grandmother, who still live in a frontline town in Sumy Region, where explosions can be heard almost every day.

Her unit says that Khrystyna goes to her position every day and hones a simple work routine precisely so that her loved ones will not have to leave their home: observe, spot the target, intercept.