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A group of volunteers who bonded over their love of Peaky Blinders have become one of Kyiv’s most-feared military units – claiming to have killed hundreds of Russian soldiers in Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
At the beginning of Russia’s invasion, the group of civilians turned out to defend their hometowns armed only with shotguns like the Shelby gang in the television hit. But after three years of intense fighting, the unit – named ‘The Peaky Blinders’ – have evolved to become one of Kyiv’s deadliest drone squads.
They play out a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, launching cheap, mass-produced drones to drop bombs on tanks and enemy foxholes while dodging Russian retaliation in the forests in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The region is the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
Their weapons, controlled by remote, cost up to £800 and the unit can lose on average six a day if the wind is particularly strong.
Nearly 85 per cent of daily Russian casualties occur in the area as Russian forces, referred to as Orcs by the unit, try to capture the whole of Donetsk and the neighbouring Luhansk regions.
The National Guard unit became known during their staunch defence of Vovchansk, a city in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine which has essentially been destroyed by fighting. In October 2024, they were sent to defend around the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk. The city is a key target for Russia and they have thrown waves of troops at trying to seize it.
After being filmed by the BBC, one of the soldiers in the Peaky Blinders signed two of their signature caps and asked the reporters to gift them to Cillian Murphy, who brought fictional gang leader Thomas Shelby to life.
The flattered Oscar winner reportedly kept one cap, signed the other and sent it back to the frontline soldiers with a message of support for their cause.
Creator Steven Knight took it a step further and sent 30 more flat caps from Garrison Tailors—the official designer of the series—to the then rag-tag bunch of volunteers.
Most of them still wear their flat cap with their own motto: “To Find and Destroy”, embroidered into the back – even during combat.
“It all began as a joke but then we developed into a fully operational combat unit and started recruiting members,” co-founder and commander of the unit Anton Spitsyn told ABC.
“Everyone here is a volunteer. We don’t have any professional soldiers,” he said. “We have already demonstrated that we can effectively defend our land whether you are a builder, a farmer or a musician.”
Before the invasion, Anton, who was born in Kharkiv Oblast, taught English to Ukrainian orphans for free, and through his construction business even repaired a children’s neurological hospital at his own expense.
Anton was announced dead by his younger brother Oleksandr early in February, having sustained wounds on the battlefield. Oleksandr is said to have succeeded Anton as leader of the unit. The group has promised vengeance on Putin.
Paying tribute to his brother, Oleksandr said at the time: “Today is the blackest for me on the hardest day of my life.
“Today my own brother passed away. The closest and dearest person to me. It’s hard to write and remember the life of Anton, but he lived a hero and died a hero.
“In battle, he received injuries unsuitable for life and went to heaven forever. Rest easy my brother.”
Before the invasion, one of their soldiers Yaroslav Chyzhenko was a family man with his own renovations business.
But when friends volunteered and asked for help, he began raising money and securing vehicles for the frontline before realising he could do more good for his country by joining them in war.
He now provides content on the group, posting photos of the team posing with machine guns and trademark flat caps.
He said: “Anton was the bravest person I have ever met in my life.
“He led us forward, and we followed him. Together we walked a very dangerous path.
“And this is far from the end. We will continue his work and keep the high bar he set. Rest in peace, brother.”
On the force’s Telegram account, they wrote: “Unfortunately, difficult tragic events happened in the life of our group. Because of this, the channel did not work for some time.
“But no one canceled the war, and if it was not difficult for us, we would move on.
“There are still a lot of occupiers and they need to be stopped.”
Their latest update for thePeaky Blinders 25,000 followers on Telegram says: “It becomes clear that everything is not so bad with us, and everything is not so good with them.
“Sooner or later, the cannon fodder will run out, just like the ‘inexhaustible’ stocks of ammunition from the time of the USSR. The main thing is to stand your ground and hit harder every time.”
They added: “And just like that, everywhere, in every direction, everything is littered with the bodies of Russian soldiers.
“If you look at it all from above, look at the price they pay for advancing on the front line.”
It comes as senior Ukrainian officials warn that Europe’s armies are not equipped to handle a new war of robots as Russia “skyrockets to space” with their own advancements in military technology.
Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of Ukraine’s frontline region of Kherson Oblast told The Independent: “Every army in Europe has to prepare for the new war. It might sound arrogant, but no military in Europe or the United Kingdom is prepared for what is coming, for that kind of war. It’s a war between robots, machines, drones. It is not what people are used to.”
Source: independent.co.uk
