The drone flew in front of him, flying very low before suddenly rising in altitude when it spotted children playing in the yard. Three brothers and sisters of Anatolii were among the children, as he told the Washington Post: “It spotted the kids and started to ascend. That’s when I realized something was going to happen.”
Anatolii then managed to neutralize the drone, likely saving the lives of the children, his mother inside the house, and the neighborhood residents.
But how did a 12-year-old boy end up in such a situation?
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“Human safari”
Anatolii knows how to defend against Russian drones. A 12-year-old boy can neutralize a drone. This certainly shows that the line between soldiers and civilians is very thin and diminishing every day. According to an expert interviewed by the Washington Post, this story reveals a nightmare situation imposed on the population: “It’s a truly horrible problem that the Russians are imposing on Ukrainian civilians in these cities where they are using the human safari tactic.”
These attacks have been ongoing for two years, forcing Ukrainian forces to deploy defense measures against drones, but it’s not always enough. In fact, in April 2025, a report from an independent UN human rights commission indicated that there were 42 deaths and nearly 300 injuries among civilians each month.
The goal of this tactic is to systematically terrorize the population. And since Russia equipped its drones with a fiber optic wire, it’s difficult for the Ukrainian army to defend its people.
The wire is a thin cable like a hair that unfurls in flight over a distance of 19 kilometers, or more if the explosive charge is lighter. The wire then transmits video images to the Russian operator.
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Fiber optic
Ukrainians have noticed the increasingly frequent presence of these fiber wires near their homes along the borders. Anatolii was particularly curious about this, and when he saw a soldier manipulating the wires, he approached him.
The soldier, an explosives specialist, had taught him three army techniques to safely cut the fiber wire. According to him, one had to wait 15 seconds after the drone passed to act, to avoid being targeted.
A month ago, as Anatolii heard the characteristic sound of the drone, he also saw the fiber optic wire trailing behind the machine.
While the drone was heading towards the children, the boy climbed down from his tree, ran about twenty meters, and followed the soldier’s instructions… except one: “I didn’t have time. So I counted to 10 and snapped it.”
The wire broke, and the drone spiraled down into a wild and marshy area on the side of the neighborhood.
The soldier who had taught Anatolii the techniques was impressed, as can be inferred from his statement to the Washington Post: “How can a civilian, especially a child, do something like this? Not all soldiers would have been able to react in a split second like that.”
The boy has since kept the fiber optic wire as a souvenir. He was hailed as a hero in Ukraine but harassed on Russian Telegram channels. His family of seven has temporarily relocated to a two-room apartment provided to them, two hours away from his home.
Front, petrol, economy… The situation is not great for Russia, losing ground in Ukraine.
