Dear Supporters of Ukraine,
Since our last newsletter from August, the defenders of Ukraine halted the Russian advance near Kramatorsk, and the Russian incursion near Dobropillia was stopped, the enemy trapped in various salients. After months of fairly negative news from the frontline, we are seeing some positive developments. UAO, supported by you, the donors, has certainly made its contribution: Our drone deliveries to the Kramatorsk frontline area have accelerated, helping more pilots to identify and destroy the enemy, wherever it raises its ugly head.
Donate to our drone pilots in Kramatorsk
While the situation on the frontlines is at least stabilising, the political situation remains tense and undecided. Russia steps up its hybrid war, with drones over Poland and jets over Estonia. While the US administration continues to swing between voicing support and disinterest, it is up to Ukraine to further grow production of military equipment on its own territory - with financial support of European partner countries. We thankfully see that the American people continue to support Ukraine every day, with donations or voicing their support.
This UAO September newsletter provides you with:
- An update from our most recent Kramatorsk fundraiser
- Interview with an AZOV drone specialist
- A personal report from UAO newsletter volunteer Andreas
- And new arrivals in our UAO shop - with a -10% discount code!
Your UAO Volunteer Team
Kramatorsk fundraiser update - the drones keep coming
Our August newsletter prominently featured our latest fundraiser for the drone pilots of Kramatorsk - meanwhile one of the most fiercely embattled zones on the frontline besides Pokrovsk. Not only have you massively supported our defenders, but thankfully various other communities joined the fundraiser - more about that below - expanding the level of support that outstripped what we originally anticipated. By today - including the donation-matching by an anonymous donor - already $322.000 were donated towards this critical part of the frontline, and more donations are coming in. Enabled by that substantially enhanced support, we already started with additional purchases and deliveries. The UAO team recently drove to Kramatorsk, delivering urgently required equipment near the frontline. Moreover, several unit pickups from the UAO warehouse ensured a swift and efficient supply of the defenders of Ukraine. Below some reporting from our handovers, with more on their way on an almost daily basis!
Donate to our drone pilots in Kramatorsk
Your support keeps the drones coming. In this case, equipment worth over $ 50.000 (high end drone jammers, thermal vision reconnaissance drones, surveillance drones, thermal FPV drones, tablets, powerbanks, power stations, generators, and more) were provided with a massive delivery to the 82nd Air Assault Brigade
With our most recent drone delivery to the 59th Brigade, this unit received a Matrice 4T thermal vision drone, a Mavic 3 drone with spare batteries, an Avenger Range Extender as well as a drone jammer
As mentioned above, we have received additional support from our friends and partners, to whom we are ever so grateful. Only last week, both the Preston Stewart and Combat Veteran News communities have pushed our fundraiser to an even higher level. Both communities supported our work in the past, enabling us to deliver equipment worth about $1.000.000!
Another quad bike (with trailer) delivered by the UAO team - this time to the fighters of the 53rd Brigade. A big shout-out also to the Combat Veteran News community that made it possible
Having supported the valiant defenders of Ukraine ever since 2022, there is always something new: For the first time, UAO will support fighter and bomber jet pilots as part of the current fundraising campaign. The 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade needs support of their pilot-support crews of engineers, to keep jets airborne and return to base safely. You may have heard that Ukrainian pilots not only use regular airstrips for take-off, landing, and maintenance. UAO will supply a truck with built-in workshop and technical equipment.
UAO volunteer Torhalla visited the fighters of the 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade and discussed the mechanics’ needs
Interview with AZOV fighter “Ivan”
Like already mentioned, we currently receive strong support from several communities who help us raise funds for our Kramatorsk drone campaign. Among others, Dutch YouTuber Tom Lassing hosted a sub-fundraiser for the drone pilots of Kramatorsk. As part of that fundraiser, we also supplied the drone pilots from the famous AZOV brigade with surveillance and FPV drones to help them hold back the Russian advance. “Ivan”, one of the brigade’s drone pilots, provided interesting insights about the work and life of a UAV operator.
Tom: The Russians are most afraid of AZOV. There's no other unit they are so afraid of as AZOV. And I just wanted to know why that is?
Ivan: Well, what is it? Why are they so scared? First of all, it all comes down to our motivation and the idea that we all share brotherhood and camaraderie in this struggle. I think Russia, Moscow, Kremlin, call them whatever you like, Putin, they fear the idea the most, and they fear people who spread this idea, and who show them what's possible, how to resist properly, and what can we do when we actually are united by this one shared ideal of what we see like the future of this Ukraine that we want - that we want to implement a free and prospering nation [...] I'm just telling you how it is in AZOV. It's always about our brotherhood. It's always about our nation. It's always about our country. Why are we here? We all understand the mission with clarity and purpose. That's basically all it is - and it's enough to make Russians fear it.
...
Tom: I'm not sure whether you can tell us, but if it's like you have one drone and you fly it - then you crash it on the target, and then you fly the next one? Or is it like you have four or five drones in the air - then pick one target, and pick the next one? How does that work?
Ivan: I'm a UAV operator. I can’t tell you what I actually do here, but it encompasses everything [...] our most important mission out there, as far as my crew goes - we're dealing with Russian air-defence systems. And we're trying to destroy as many as possible just to make life for our aviation easier and to carve out a path for our troops by destroying Russian electronic warfare systems. It's antennas that you can spot almost anywhere, and we require many drones for that, because Russians are good at scaling stuff and because there are more Russians than us, they provide their troops with dirt cheap components. Some of them are sourced from China or Iran, and this new axis that is being formed [...] so everything that we as drone operators do is aimed at helping our infantry and tanks and what have you to provide better defences and take back our land.
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Tom: You said you have your targets. Do you fly out and then search for them, or do you get your targets assigned from a higher echelon?
Ivan: Of course, the higher-ups provide us with targets; but that's one of the nice aspects of being a drone operator: While you fly en route to the target, you find and spot multiple other areas to make a bombing run to [...] we find new targets all the time and then we ask our superiors whether or not it is logical for us to divert our ammunition, because, as you know, ammunition is never enough in any kind of war. We have to conserve it to deliver the most precise and accurate strikes as possible [...] You have to understand how many days you can spend inside a kill zone, and maybe not even work through the whole kill zone. Maybe you're going to work through a longer distance setup, using a relay. And it's all decided in a boardroom meeting. I think you can imagine what it looks like. Only then we are being deployed to our area of operation and only then we understand what we're working with.
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Tom: I can imagine there's some psychological aspect. The stress aspect of seeing your drone hitting a human being and I know you're in a war, but how do you cope with that?
Ivan: The same way as snipers cope when they see the target that is being downed, it's a job essentially. It's a job, and the way that you do your job is you kill the enemy [...] in AZOV, we've built this system of dedicated psychiatrists that are dealing with soldiers, and we have regular mental checkups [...] should any of us have any issues we are always welcomed with open arms. There is no stigma here [...] we always support each other whenever we're having these kinds of thoughts, because obviously they’re going to go to your head someday.
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Tom: I do want to talk for hours with you, but we can't do that [...] but I do want to say I appreciate your openness and the fact that you gave so much information, and I think that AZOV as a unit has the power and ingenuity to win. So I wish you well, and I truly hope to speak to you in the spring of 2026!
Ivan: Thank you Tom. All the best to you and we'll fight for our freedom, for the freedom of the whole of Europe [...] we're going to stand for what's right, and with your support, with the people watching, I think we have all the chances to make it happen!
Donate to our drone pilots in Kramatorsk
Personal Report from UAO Newsletter Volunteer Andreas - Two weeks "normality" in Lutsk
Early September, Andreas, one of UAO’s newsletter volunteers (who also composed this September newsletter), was invited to teach a two-week course in design management/product development at Volyn National University in Lutsk. Having visited frontline cities from Kherson to Slovyansk several times before, this visit was unlike the others - normal and not normal at once, embedded in what appeared to be citizens' daily routines, but not quite so. There are many English speaking students in Ukraine that long for EU integration, some wanting to be ready to take part in the eventual reconstruction of their nation, while others clearly aim to go abroad at the soonest opportunity. Every second day, the lectures were interrupted by a moment of silence, as yet another convoy with fallen soldiers passed the premises. Every September, new students are formally admitted, and on that occasion, with parents and family as guests, it hit home just how many men were missing.
Despite regular attacks on the city, and an underlying air of sadness, the people of Lutsk try to preserve a sense of normalcy - studying, working, attending cultural activities, doing sports and just about anything else. During his stay, Andreas witnessed two massive nightly drone and cruise missile assaults that likely targeted the nearby air-base and industrial facilities - yet in the morning by 07:30, even the youngest of children flooded the university sports ground for their football and track running practice, as if nothing much had happened at all.
One thing is certain; the “peaceful western Ukraine”, to which some cold-hearted European politicians would like to repatriate refugees, remains a chimera.
Donate to medical supplies and medical equipment
Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Lutsk. Handing over a bootload of medical supplies to the dean of the medical faculty for wounded soldiers.
Lecture time. Inauguration of 2,000 new students. Famous Edelvika Vyshyvanka shop and weavers. World's largest painting by Petro Antyp at Korsak Museum Lutsk.
New unit patches and flags available from our UAO shop
As a sign of gratitude, several units once again provided us with patches and signed unit flags during our recent delivery trips to the Kramatorsk, Kherson, and Sumy front lines. Particularly notable are signed “Kursk People’s Republic” flags from the very soldiers who now fight in the northern Sumy direction, previously capturing parts of the Russian mainland in the Ukrainian summer offensive in 2024. Also, the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center, also known as “Chieftain Antin Holovaty”, handed over three signed flags in return for our previous drone deliveries.
Flag “Kursk People’s Republic” with soldiers’ signatures
Painting on canvas by Anastasia Leonova
All new items are now available from our UAO shop, and the proceeds from their sales will go towards drones, drone jammers, generators, vehicles, and more. Every one of your purchases means direct support of the defenders of Ukraine. With the code “NEWSLETTER25”, you can benefit from a 10% discount. To put things into perspective; over the last 12 months, we raised over $500,000 through sales from our UAO shop and Victory Gallery, allowing us to purchase large quantities of essential equipment - thank you so much for making it happen!
Donate via the UAO SHOP
Thank you for standing strong with Ukraine. Together we will win this war!
Sincerely, the UAO volunteer team.
Heroyam Slava!