Boy, 12, disables Russian FPV drone heading towards his younger siblings in Chernihiv Oblast

Anatolii Prokhorenko, a 12-year-old middle school student, has disabled a Russian fibre-optic FPV drone that was heading towards his younger siblings. The incident took place in Chernihiv Oblast.

Source: Suspilne Chernihiv, a local branch of the Ukrainian public broadcaster

Details: Suspilne Chernihiv reported that Anatolii cut the cable, after which the drone fell nearby.

Anatolii's family is from Semenivka, a town near the border in Chernihiv Oblast. He is the eldest child in the family and has four younger brothers and sisters.

The incident took place on 18 April. The boy was outside when he spotted a Russian fibre-optic drone in the sky – a UAV controlled via a thin cable that unwinds from a spool during flight. The drone was heading towards the area where his younger siblings were playing.

Anatolii recounts: "I saw that it started to turn. I crouched down, then looked – it was going up. I said: 'That's it, 15 seconds and I'll cut [the fibre optic]!' My nephew ran out and shouted: 'Cut it!' I pulled it and saw the drone start accelerating upwards because it had lost control and was beginning to fall. We were already bracing for an explosion. But it fell into bushes about 100-150 m away from us."

It was the first time Anatolii had tried to disable a drone. He admitted he was frightened, but his family was all he could think about, and that mattered more than fear.

"I'm hardly afraid of anything anymore," he said. "Yes, there's still fear of Shahed drones. But not like before. After living in Semenivka, where [drones] were flying overhead, it doesn't scare me anymore."

Anatolii learned how to properly cut fibre-optic cables from soldiers he knew. He had been helping them cut firewood when they found such a cable on a tree, and one serviceman showed him how to break it, although he warned that it should be done only in rare cases.

According to Mykyta Havrylenko, operations director of the UAV operator training centre Kruk, the boy was fortunate that there was no second drone nearby.

"An FPV drone usually doesn't fly alone," Havrylenko said. "Another UAV guides it from the air. For instance, a Mavic hovers at about 300 m and provides targeting: the target is there, the target has moved. And if that drone spots a boy trying to disable them – cutting or tangling the fibre optic – what happens next? The child becomes a priority target because he is interfering."

Anatolii's main hobby now is working on cars. He enjoys spending time with his father and helping repair them.

After the incident, Anatolii says he wants to become a soldier and work with drones. But despite everything, he dreams of the war coming to an end.

His father, Volodymyr Poltoratskyi, said that due to the security situation, the family had moved to Chernihiv.

"He [Anatolii] is our most reliable support," he said.

Background: Earlier, it was reported that in Mykolaiv Oblast, a teenager from a large family saved his younger brother during a fire. The boy sustained burns and underwent surgery.

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