How Geeks Of War Mobilized Ukraine Drone Operations

“Once a week, we held a Scrum-like meeting to prioritize requests and determine our investments,” noted Zhluktenko. This Agile approach, a methodology focused on iterative development and continuous feedback, was borrowed from his software engineering days. Scrum, a framework within Agile, facilitated this by structuring the work into sprint-like tasks and weekly stand-up meetings. This ensured they could respond quickly to the needs of the units they supported.

According to Zhluktenko, the high level of transparency was crucial, especially given the widespread narrative of corruption in Ukraine, as it showed every detail of how donations were used.

“It was a competitive advantage as it won the hearts and minds of people, especially amidst the narrative that Ukraine is corrupt. The more transparency that we showed, the more excitement we got from donors,” Zhluktenko explained.

A supporter of the fund, Karla Wagner from the Netherlands, explained to Frontsight:“I discovered Dzyga's Paw on doing an exhaustive web search to find an interesting charity that aligned with who I am. I decided to start donating to the fund because of Dzyga's thoroughly modern transparency and effectiveness, the fact that they wouldn't shy from military (more than humanitarian) assistance, where many others do.”

Thomas Blikshavn, a supporter from Norway, said,“Donating started when I had done enough research to realize Dimko was actually doing a very diligent job in showing people that donations were indeed translated into actual support on the ground. I was impressed that he went to such lengths to demonstrate accountability and being so transparent about everything he was doing with other people's money.”

Blikshavn pointed out that“a major talking point for the enemy is corruption in Ukraine.” However, he highlighted that the team at Dzyga's Paw“represents a new generation of Ukrainians, fostering values like honesty, commitment, pride in national identity.” He continued,“The resolve shared by the supporters of Dzyga's Paw and Ukraine is unwavering. We will keep supporting you until victory is achieved. We're not going anywhere. United, we will win.”

Zhluktenko's efforts quickly grew into a multi-million-dollar charity, which has had a profound impact on the battlefield and not only from a supply chain perspective.“Each and every expense done as a foundation was automated,” he said. Despite Russia's invasion going on for several years now, they have not seen a decline in donations, consistently raising $100,000 a month.

The fund focused on tech equipment, as Zhluktenko aimed to ensure that Ukraine gained an advantage over Russian forces through superior technology,“giving Ukrainian forces a technological edge.”

The main thrust of the fund was to utilize commercial technology including drones and Starlinks, to supply units at scale that desperately needed help. Danilo Makarov, a drone pilot from the 108th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, previously told Frontsight that“you can no longer fight a battle without having a drone above.”

The importance of volunteers delivering drones to frontline units cannot be overstated.“The only thing preventing Russia's breakthrough on all fronts is FPV (first-person) drones, 90 percent of which are being provided by volunteers or military divisions themselves,” a Ukrainian military commander, Lt Col Pavlo Kurylenko, said in an interview with The Telegraph .

One soldier from the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade also
said
that it would've been impossible to fight back against Russia without such a strong volunteer force backing the Ukrainian army.

Dan, whose call sign is“Kovbassa,” is a commander of an aerial reconnaissance unit in the 47th Mechanized Brigade currently fighting on the Pokrovsk-Avdiivka axis. He said 90% of civilian tech supplies given to his unit during the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast came from volunteer organizations such as Dzyga's Paw.

These supplies included FPV drones, power banks, Starlinks, and reconnaissance drones.“Dzyga's Paw has been working with us since our unit was first formed. Their support was vital to get us going,” said Dan.“They are the most trusted fund I know.”

Vlad Sokolov , an emergency response officer for the State Emergency Office of Ukraine, told Frontsight that at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Zhluktenko quickly helped his unit procure critical supplies needed early on.

Zhluktenko said that in total, Dzyga's Paw has worked with over 100 Ukrainian units since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Many of the drones delivered by Ukrainian volunteers such as Zhluktenko, including the Chinese Mavic 3 Pro models, are heavily relied upon by Ukrainian units for reconnaissance. The Ukrainian army also depends on Starlinks for frontline communication. The extensive use of civilian technology by the Ukrainian army enables volunteers to procure these items, playing an important role in the wartime supply chain.

In a prior
Frontsight
interview, Norman, a drone unit commander from the 109th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade pointed out that things were disorganized and soldiers could deploy drones wherever they were. The Ukrainian units still have a heavy reliance on the same
Chinese drones
used at the start of the war such as the DJI Mavic model.

Kostyantyn Mynailenko , a commander of an aerial reconnaissance unit in the Liut Brigade, said,“The Russians have many more drones than us. They have a stable supply chain sourced directly from China. We have to order our Chinese drones from Europe indirectly and then bring them to Ukraine.” This has been an issue for Ukraine as much of the world's global electronics supply chains flow directly from
China .

According to the
Washington Post , the use of“cheap drones” enabled Ukrainian soldiers to achieve a tactical advantage on the battlefield, despite the Russians having superior numbers and more extensive weaponry. But to achieve that advantage on the battlefield, Ukraine has been heavily dependent on much of the work that volunteers do to manage supply chains for drones since the start of the full-scale invasion.

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Leading innovation on the battlefield

By the spring of 2022, Zhluktenko and his team were among the first to start driving tech innovation on the frontlines.

“At first, we were weird geeks who delivered drones and Starlinks to the frontline,” Zhluktenko said with a beaming smile.

But they heard chatter from soldiers around the different struggles they were having with drones and getting data transmitted back to command centers.“We heard soldiers saying they needed to do reconnaissance on sections of forest where there is limited visibility and the soldiers wanted to make sure they minimize losses doing this work,” he said.

Zhluktenko spoke with friends on the front, asked them what their workflow was, and started to piece together a solution. He identified improvements that were needed and how they could be accomplished. To improve communication with command posts from drones, he helped operationalize live streams by connecting them to Google Meet, streaming directly to the command center using the internet connection provided by Starlink.

“We were streaming through Google Meet, as we would connect the tablet to the drone. It was crappy quality but it was enough at that time to get the job done,” Zhluktenko highlighted.“We were the early adopters of this process,” he said.

Looking ahead

Having left his mark on the war effort as a volunteer, Zhluktenko has signed a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and will be joining the battle on the frontline. He is currently in Kyiv undergoing training as a drone pilot and will soon be deployed. He has also recently gotten
married .

Shortly before their wedding, Zhluktenko's wife Ira
posted
on X:“I am going to marry soon. I can't invite some of my friends to my wedding because they chose to fight for our independence, for the freedom of every Ukrainian citizen, me in particular. And they were killed by Russians.”

As our interview concluded, a deep sense of duty was evident in Zhluktenko's tone as he spoke about his imminent departure for the front. He shared his wish to have a proper honeymoon with his wife, dreaming of traveling abroad to a beautiful destination. Instead of donning a wedding suit, he is preparing to wear a military uniform, ready to join his fellow countrymen on the frontline in the fight for his country's freedom.

David Kirichenko is a Ukrainian-American security engineer, a freelance journalist and a volunteer activist on behalf of the Ukraine side in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

This article was originally published by Frontsight . It is republished with permission.

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