By AFP and Kontur | 2024-05-03

NEAR CHASIV YAR, Ukraine -- Ukrainian drone pilot Andriy began drawing the horrors of the war with his graphic pencil, trying to stay sane even as he realized he had watched a close friend in agony.

"You put these emotions down on paper in your spare time, and it helps you not to go mad," said the 48-year-old, taking a break from flying his reconnaissance drone in eastern Ukraine.

"The monsters that I draw can't be filmed or photographed, but they have been my reality for the past two years," he said.

One of the drawings stands out.

It depicts the dying throes of a soldier that Andriy watched for hours through his drone, before realizing he knew the man very well.

The sketch portrays a wounded Ukrainian soldier, lying in the midst of a building's ruins, surrounded by four corpses and raising a hand in a call for help.

He is gazing, face turned to the sky, toward the center of the drawing.

It feels as if he is staring at the viewer observing him through the drone's camera.

Ghosts rise between the ruins behind him, with the word "WATER" written over and over on his right.

'I had no idea'

"A modest little drawing in a sketchbook, but there's a story behind it. It's exactly what I saw with my own eyes," said Andriy.

The scene took place during the battle for Klishchiivka last summer, a village near Bakhmut that Russia seized in May 2023 after months of fighting.

As he watched through his drone's camera, Andriy had no idea that the suffering soldier was a close friend with the call sign Donbas.

Both volunteered in Odesa and fought side by side in the same brigade, including in Avdiivka, where Andriy manned a Browning heavy machine gun.

They were then transferred to the 22nd brigade, where Andriy became a drone pilot.

"I had no idea this was 'Donbas.' I saw only a man, alive, barely moving his hand in the direction of the drone. He was lying on a pile of broken bricks," he said.

"We kept an eye on him all day."

Back to base after the long shift, Andriy learned the soldier's identity.

He was told that Donbas had led an assault with a small group of fighters when a shell fell nearby.

"They were unlucky," Andriy said.

'Just a sip'

Donbas was the only one to survive the immediate strike, but his legs were broken.

He crawled a bit under a scorching sun until he reached a radio.

"He repeated only one word: 'water, water, water...'. People kept hearing him until his signal went off," he said, citing radio operators.

"He could barely breathe toward the end... It was a terrible death," Andriy said.

First stunned by the news, Andriy then sat down on his bed to draw.

The horrors he has witnessed have not deterred him.

He said he was fighting "for the survival of Ukraine as a nation."

"I realized that we are an outpost between Europe and a horde of cannibals."