{"id":144214,"date":"2026-02-24T22:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/144214\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T22:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T22:02:12","slug":"i-left-my-manhattan-apartment-for-ukraines-front-lines-now-im-fighting-drones-261","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/144214\/","title":{"rendered":"I left my Manhattan apartment for Ukraine\u2019s front lines. Now I\u2019m fighting drones"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Viktoriia Honcharuk left behind her dream job on Wall Street, her apartment in Manhattan, and fear of blood for life as a combat medic on the front lines of Ukraine, she had no idea what she was letting herself in for. Not only would the young investment banker end up evacuating hundreds of casualties from the battlefields of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, two of the deadliest fronts in the war with Russia, but she would lose the four close friends she joined up with.<\/p>\n

Yet for Tori \u2014 the name she goes by on her military call sign \u2014 the past year has been the most challenging of all. Russia\u2019s massive use of fibre-optic killer drones, which Ukrainian forces can neither detect nor jam, has created a no-go \u201ckill zone\u201d ten miles around the front, making it too dangerous for medics like her to evacuate the injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last year I went from rescuing 100 wounded soldiers a week to not being able to evacuate at all,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve gone from staying 800 metres from our frontline positions to being 10-15km away. And when I\u2019m in position and we hear on the radio someone has been injured, we\u2019re literally just listening to them die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday will mark the grim fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians left careers, from concert violinists and lawyers to jewellers and poets, to defend their country. Honcharuk, 25, is initially reluctant to talk about how she abandoned her life as a banker, insisting she is nothing special. <\/p>\n

But British soldiers entering the reception of the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham are greeted by her portrait in oils, showing her sitting inside a ruined tank in the heavily fought-over city of Bakhmut, in 2023, before it was eventually taken by the Russians. Painted by the British war artist Max Denison-Pender, it was installed in a ceremony that December as an inspiration to others to keep supporting Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Honcharuk and her elder sister, Maryna, both from the Third Assault Brigade, will be in London this week attending an exhibition of Denison-Pender\u2019s paintings from Ukraine including their portraits, and speaking at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.<\/p>\n

\"Viktoriia<\/p>\n

Viktoriia Honcharuk in the sunflower fields of Ukraine<\/p>\n

@VICTORIA__HONCHARUK<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Honcharuk led Ukraine\u2019s military delegation to the Munich security conference. There, she used her firsthand experience of how drones have changed this high-tech war to discuss with western partners and defence companies the needs of frontline units, including 3D radars for detecting airborne devices and support developing unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) \u2014 remotely controlled robotic devices that can go where it is too dangerous for humans. They can be used to deliver ammunition and extract the wounded. <\/p>\n

Most of all, she pleaded for help in detection of Russia\u2019s fibre-optic drones. \u201cIt\u2019s personal,\u201d she says. \u201cUntil we fix this, my work as a combat medic is useless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until the Russian invasion in February 2022, Honcharuk had been working in the New York office of Morgan Stanley, one of the world\u2019s biggest investment banks. \u201cLife was good,\u201d she says. \u201cI had a great apartment. I was literally living the dream.\u201d <\/p>\n

Born in the small town of Baranivka in a region of northwest Ukraine which borders Belarus, her life changed at 15 when she won a scholarship to high school in America, then to Minerva University in California.<\/p>\n

After sending off 80 applications on graduation, she got an internship at Citibank, then a role at Morgan Stanley. <\/p>\n

\"Ukrainian<\/p>\n

Sisters Viktoriia, left, and Maryna Honcharuk of Ukraine\u2019s Third Assault Brigade<\/p>\n

Less than a year into the job, she woke up on February 24, 2022 to hear that the Russians had invaded. \u201cI was very confused, I couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut when I called my parents, they told me \u2018it\u2019s happening\u2019 and they had joined the Territorial Army.\u201d<\/p>\n

These volunteers were all poorly equipped, needing everything from body armour to camouflage netting, so for the first few months Honcharuk was sending money. \u201cI thought I was helping,\u201d she says. \u201cBut after a while I couldn\u2019t look myself in the mirror. There I was, going to fancy parties in New York clubs when my country, my culture, my area \u2026 were all threatened. I realised there was more to life than career. I needed to be on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September 2022, she returned and met her sister, who had joined up with a group of four young men calling themselves Brothers in Arms. \u201cI thought these are people I want to walk in life with,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

To start with, Honcharuk did a couple of humanitarian trips to help people in the besieged city of Bakhmut with Eddy Scott, a British volunteer who later lost his arm and leg in a drone attack while evacuating civilians from Pokrovsk.<\/p>\n

Then, in December 2022, she left New York for good. \u201cI thought I need to do more,\u201d she says. \u201cThey said they needed medics. I was afraid of blood and needles but I thought if that\u2019s what they need, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Soldiers<\/p>\n

An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is used for evacuation in a frontline practice run near Kyiv on Friday<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

She took a week-long course in tactical medicine, learning how to apply tourniquets and drips, and one day later was sent to the Zaporizhzhia front doing medivacs \u2014 medical evacuations \u2014 to the civilian point. \u201cFortunately, my first injured were not too bad and I was working for a much more experienced leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

The situation quickly escalated, however, and soon she was dealing with much more difficult injuries \u2014 gunshot wounds, arms and legs blown off by mines. \u201cWhen I became leader of a crew in Lyman region we were getting 100 injured a week we needed to evacuate,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Stationed just a few hundred metres from the front line, she and a driver in a makeshift ambulance would race to retrieve the wounded and transport them to small field hospitals, often underground.<\/p>\n

For the first nine months, she was attached to different brigades. \u201cLiterally any but that of my sister,\u201d she laughs. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be a burden.\u201d Maryna Honcharuk, now 30, had become Ukraine\u2019s first female assault trooper in the Third Assault Brigade and now commands its intelligence unit. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s the most badass,\u201d says Viktoriia. \u201cOnce she captured someone from the Wagner Group [Russian mercenaries] and he couldn\u2019t believe he had been taken prisoner by a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 War diary: love and desperation on Ukraine\u2019s front line <\/a><\/p>\n

In August 2023, she joined Maryna in the Third Assault Brigade and the two remarkable sisters have been together on the front lines of Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Limon and Luhansk.<\/p>\n

Honcharuk has treated Russian prisoners of war, as well as Ukrainian casualties, including one commander who, she says, \u201cwas so scared he peed in my car\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had to treat multiple POWs and always do it with respect \u2014 even though I hate those people, they came to our country to take it, and they killed my friends.\u201d The four young men she and her sister joined up with were killed in Bakhmut and Avdiivka.<\/p>\n

Both sisters are still on active service, but last year they also helped set up the Snake Island Institute, a defence think tank named after the island in the Black Sea which became a global symbol of defiance in 2022 when Ukrainian forces there refused to surrender to Russian invaders, famously declaring \u201cRussian warship, Go f*** yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n

Setting up the institute was partly a response to the showdown in the Oval Office last year, when President Zelensky received a dressing down in front of the cameras by President Trump. \u201cI felt our military needed to speak more directly to decision-makers,\u201d Honcharuk explains. \u201cWe wanted a way of presenting our military story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

President Zelensky\u2019s Oval Office clash with Trump and JD Vance made Honcharuk determined to change the narrative<\/p>\n

EPA<\/p>\n

The institute also aims to work with foreign partners and tech companies to identify and fill gaps on the front line in a war that is changing rapidly.<\/p>\n

As its director of tech, Honcharuk organises so-called crash tests to check how well devices work in frontline conditions, and the readiness of battalions to use the latest capabilities. Her team recently conducted a test of strike UGVs, robotic devices operated remotely by joysticks, which Ukraine is using more and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe 2026 will be the year of strike UGVs,\u201d she says. Her brigade already has a special UGV battalion, NC13, and she plays me videos showing how they used one to deliver a massive aviation bomb and blow up a Russian position, and another to take a POW \u2014 both world firsts.<\/p>\n

Another UGV managed to rescue a wounded soldier who had spent 33 days behind enemy lines and \u2014 after six failed attempts \u2014 take him to safety in an armoured capsule.<\/p>\n

As they tested the UGVs, navigating through mud and trenches, only four models out of 15 from different manufacturers made it through.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Putin has the men and the gear \u2014 and still believes he can win<\/a><\/p>\n

These tests are key, given that Ukraine is systematically scaling up the use of ground-based robotic devices at the front. Last month alone, more than 7,000 missions using ground-based drones were carried out, according to Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Defence. The vast majority were logistical tasks but one held a position for 45 days with no men.<\/p>\n

Honcharuk\u2019s team is now focusing on the detection of fibre-optic drones, one area in which Russia is leading the way. Anywhere within ten miles of the front, there are shimmering fibres draped along trees and buildings and across fields like spiderwebs, while in the besieged city of Pokrovsk, streets are tangled with them.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A drone strike leaves behind destruction in Raihorodka, Lyman, in May 2025. One person was killed and another injured<\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no way of tracking these fibre-optic drones, so they turn large areas into no-go zones too dangerous for resupply, troop rotations or medical evacuations,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Not being able to do evacuations is a huge problem, given that about 3,000 soldiers a month along the 1,000km front line need evacuating, and the army is suffering a shortage of manpower. Knowing they may well not be rescued if injured is also very damaging to troops\u2019 morale.<\/p>\n

Honcharuk has little hope for the ongoing peace talks. \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve seen, Russia\u2019s not going to stop, so we need to strengthen our forces.\u201d To Europe and Nato, she says: \u201cIf they don\u2019t start putting their money where their mouth is, we won\u2019t succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there were to be peace, would Honcharuk return to Manhattan? \u201cI miss that life with all my heart,\u201d she smiles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Viktoriia Honcharuk left behind her dream job on Wall Street, her apartment in Manhattan, and fear of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-144214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}