Photos: Hairdresser by day, drone hunter by night

Oleksandr Shamshur, 41, is a hairdresser by day and a “drone hunter” by night time – one among tens of hundreds of volunteers serving to defend the skies over Ukraine in opposition to Russian assaults.

Because the February 24 first anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears, Ukraine is changing into more and more adept at taking pictures down Russian missiles and drones fired at cities removed from the entrance strains, and Shamshur takes delight in his position.

Members of his territorial defence unit, who embrace a lawyer and a businessman, reply to air raid alerts in and across the capital, Kyiv, by searching for to down Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones with a restored World Struggle II machinegun.

“I’m a really blissful particular person. Why? As a result of I’m defending my nation, I’m defending our Ukrainian folks,” Shamshur stated as he combed the capital’s moonlit skyline by way of a thermal digicam with a variety finder from his place on a rooftop.

Close by, a fellow fighter was adjusting the inexperienced barrels of the Soviet-made “Maxim” machinegun.

“However on the identical time, I can come to the wonder salon and work with the folks, do the work I do know, minimize hair and discuss to purchasers,” he stated.

He stated it by no means occurred to him as a civilian to “run away and conceal someplace” when Russian armoured forces stormed right into a shocked Ukraine final winter and started bombarding Kyiv and different cities.

“With the enemy on the doorstep, I needed to do one thing, I needed to act in defence,” he stated.

In the course of the night time of December 29-30, Shamshur stated, his rooftop unit shot down two drones over Kyiv. His staff members have additionally handed the abilities they’ve realized on to different items.

Shamshur sports activities a number of badges on his camouflage uniform, together with one which reads “Drone Hunters” in English, and one other in Ukrainian studying “Ronin” – a feudal Japanese warrior – that he has adopted as his nom de guerre.

When Russia invaded, Shamshur – a military reservist earlier than the struggle – realized that his army base had already been destroyed by Russian shelling, so he joined territorial defences, initially delivering meals to civilians and serving to evacuate folks.

At work in his salon, nonetheless sporting army khaki as he styled a consumer’s hair, he stated he tries to not discuss to his purchasers in regards to the struggle, calling it “darkish” in distinction to the “mild” within the peaceable a part of his life.