Exclusive | How Ukraine volunteers down Russia drones with pick-up trucks and WWII guns

SUMY OBLAST, Ukraine — Thousands of Ukrainian civilian volunteers recently ventured into Ukraine’s countryside in the dead of night loaded with World War II-era guns and pick-up trucks to go hunting — for Russian drones. While the set-up seemed rudimentary — circa-1939 Browning anti-tank guns strapped to hand-me-down trucks — the Ukrainian Territory Defense volunteers were helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces achieve their more than 93% success rate downing drones.The combination of old and new is a common theme seen throughout the more than three-year-long war between Ukraine and its invading neighbor — and military experts say the situation exemplifies what we can expect in a new age of modern warfare.At Ukraine’s northern border just across from Kursk, Russia, The Post embedded with one of the anti-drone units the night Russia launched 194 drones and its largest barrage off missiles — 67 of various types — in recent history.Such Kyiv air defense units are designed to get off the first shots to try to take down the Russian weapons before they venture too far into Ukraine.As dusk fell, two volunteers, who requested anonymity for fear of Russian targeting, crawled into a WWI-style trench line, then into a bunker, and waited for Russia to inevitably begin launching their Iranian-made attack drones into Ukraine.The drones can come from miles away, sometimes taking hours to reach even the northernmost parts of Ukraine.

Sitting in a bunker and waiting for a potentially devastating drone to head your way is an eerie feeling — second only to doing the same thing outside the concrete bunker in the open countryside.Suddenly, the commander of the unit got a call: Russia launched its first round of drones that night, and they would be flying across the Ukrainian border to our region in 45 minutes.The defenders grabbed their gear and wound through the spider web of trench lines, headed for an M2 Browning anti-tank rifle mounted in the bed of a pickup.Intro...