The fourth autumn of the war brings back an oceanic dose of black mud in the trenches and the usual plague of field mice, causing all brigades these days to fight to have enough cats available to keep them at bay. Katherina Petrenko (Katia, from now on) already has hers, a gray specimen proudly strolling through the kitchen, keeping the rodents in check.
For international reporters, Katia was a well-known figure in the Donbás in 2023. Among the constellation of press officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with whom journalists must negotiate access to the front lines, Katia was one of the most friendly and efficient. That year, she facilitated several reports with her Brigade 80 to the always impatient foreign journalists, many of them with her risking her life in the positions of Brigade 80.
Now, two years later, Katia remains in the same place, in the gray and Soviet-style Kramatorsk, but her role has changed. She no longer carries a camera or negotiates access with reporters. Now she operates kamikaze drones, the lethal devices responsible for most combat deaths today. What has happened between the journalist Katia and the current assault soldier? It can be summarized in one word: revenge.
Image of Sergiy Pavlenko, in the Maidan garden in Kiev.A. R.
"Before the war, I worked as a freelance journalist covering legal proceedings and specializing in corruption. So I remember very well the day on February 23, 2022, the night before the large-scale invasion. It was 10 p.m. and I was still in a room where a corrupt politician was being prosecuted," Katia recounts. When the Russians began their offensive against Kiev, she documented all the crimes committed by the Z troops in the occupied areas, saw the bodies of Ukrainian civilians shot in Bucha, and the absolute destruction they left behind. She understood that she had to do something to punish the invader. A friend suggested she travel to France to get away from the war for a while and breathe a little. It was a turning point in her life: "The same day my flight was leaving from Poland to Paris, I was volunteering to handle press and communication tasks before the commander of the Ukrainian Brigade 80."
Katia sips black tea from the same cup the commander gave her. Besides the emblem of her unit, her nickname is written: "Bratyunya" (Little Brother). She explains why it is in the masculine form. "Among themselves, my comrades called each other Brat [brother], but to avoid distinctions with me, being the only girl, the commander decided to call me the same, although using a diminutive. Since then, everyone called me that, and the commander, who is now deceased, gave me this cup."
Gradually, the soldiers and officers started taking her to the front lines when they saw she could control her fear, earning the respect of all. A comrade told her a phrase she has not forgotten: "Every soldier in the trench wants to be heard". She began writing a weekly column about the stories of these men thrown into combat. In one of those interviews, she met Sergiy, one of the most charismatic soldiers in the unit. Despite being five years younger than her, she fell in love quickly. "No one in my unit had the slightest intention of working with the press, but the komandir (commander) ordered him to talk to me because he was the most talented soldier. That's how we met."
Petrenko receiving an award from President Zelenski.A. R.
They were together for a year as a couple in cities in Donbás that are now occupied and in ruins, but she holds sweet memories of their dates with Sergiy when the war allowed it.
- As a soldier and drone pilot. He took down 500 Russians, some were injured and others killed. These are official figures, verifiable with drone videos. He was very brave and he alone could change the outcome of a battle. When things went wrong and he was resting, they mobilized him quickly to turn the situation around.
The activity in the house is frenetic. Some soldiers return from the front lines while others leave. It is a kind of drone workshop where they prepare the quadcopter units that each rotation must transport to their positions. Hundreds of them are piled up in one room.
Sergiy was personally decorated by President Zelenski and his brigade changed fronts. They moved from Donbás to the Russian region of Kursk last summer, where combat conditions toughened. "He was in a position surrounded by many North Korean soldiers from three different directions, about 150 military personnel. About 50 of them launched an assault after resisting in the trench for 20 days without being able to leave. He told me [thanks to the connection provided by the Starlink antenna] that for days they repelled them even at gunpoint. The official version is that he was killed by an enemy drone," Katia recalls with teary eyes.
- In the first few days, I couldn't even speak. I cried all the time. I was paralyzed. I wondered why the enemy had taken everything from me, not just my love, but had destroyed the cities where we had been happy and also had killed my friends from the unit. That's why I never stood still completely. In a very short time, I recovered physically and started taking drone piloting classes and trying to remember what he had taught me.
- How much of your decision to become a drone pilot and stop working for the press is related to revenge?
- I have already taken down about 20 targets and I improve my drone handling skills every day.
Someone else shares the same opinion, that she is getting better each day, because Zelenski, a few weeks ago, also awarded her just like he did with Sergiy before.
Katia shares this while modifying a mountain of drones to make them reach farther than what their manufacturer predicts. "The problem is that we receive devices from different brands, with different characteristics and different combat behavior, so we have to adapt every day to the new equipment. Just when we get used to it, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense sends us new drones that we have never tried before... And that's how we spend our lives," Katia comments somewhat disheartened.
- What do you want to do after the war, Katia?
- I have two projects I would like to complete: a film about Sergiy based on all the footage we recorded together and a book about all my experiences in the war.
- To achieve that, you must make it through this invasion alive.
- I, on the other hand, believe I am prepared for death. In a way, it would be the logical end to this story. To reunite with Sergiy in the afterlife.