As Ukraine braces itself for a second full winter of Russian attacks on energy facilities, air defence units use all available resources to bolster their efficacy.
Although Ukraine is banking on newer and better weapons systems to help prevent their country being plunged into darkness again, air defence units make use of all that is available, including guns and systems dating back to the Soviet era.
"We can see that even old, Soviet-era, equipment works in the skilled hands of our boys. All the shots I witnessed today were accurate, all the targets were shot down," said Serhii Naiev, commander of the Joint Forces of Ukrainian Army who observed the exercise.
Maxim gun, the first fully automatic machine gun in the world, produced in 1936 for the Red Army featured prominently among other types of weaponry used by soldiers taking part in a drill conducted in central Ukrainian region of Chernihiv in Saturday (November 11).
Nearly half of Ukraine's energy system was damaged by Russian attacks last winter, when Moscow pummelled power plants and transformers with cruise missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones. At times, millions of people had no electricity.
The threat of attacks on the power grid remains acute following reports that Moscow has set up its own facilities to manufacture assault drones based on the Shahed-136.
Fearing a renewed Russian aerial onslaught during the coming cold months, Kyiv has been calling on Western allies to provide additional arms ahead of winter to fend off Russian attacks.
The Sun newspaper brings you the latest breaking news videos and explainers from the UK and around the world
Become a Sun Subscriber and hit the bell to be the first to know
Read The Sun: http://www.thesun.co.uk
Like The Sun on Facebook: / thesun
Follow The Sun on Twitter: / thesun
Subscribe to The Sun on Snapchat: / 1633225139
#russia #ukraine #war
