He saves civilians from the hell of war. He is a living target for Russian drones [REPORTAŻ]
I met Bohdan Zujakow from Kramatorsk in the summer of 2024 while working on my reportage book. He was one of the local daredevils who, without hesitation, got into a car and drove into the combat zone to take away civilians begging for help.
Even though he came close to death many times, he did not stop reaching for people trapped on the front line. When he sat in the garden after a hard day, he returned to the event from just a few days ago. In Chasiv Yar, a Russian drone chased him for so long that he was convinced he would never return home this time.
When people standing next to the evacuation car heard the characteristic warning buzzing, they ran in all directions, trying to save their lives. Bohdan rushed towards a nearby shed. Inside he noticed a canister of water and an old wardrobe. He grabbed a container of water, knocked the wardrobe over on himself and hoped that if the drone struck, these objects would weaken the force of the explosion at least a little. However, the drone did not fly inside. As Bohdan recalls, he circled over the building for a while, then found another target – his car.
Stanisław Harkotowa / Aktuality.sk
Bohdan Zujakow
The explosion shattered the windshield and the vehicle burst into flames. Although the fire was quickly extinguished and it turned out that the car was still drivable, the evacuation did not take place. People didn't want to get on it. Bohdan and his friend, who helped him during the action, returned to Kramatorsk.
Each such trip is like the day of your second birth
– Bohdan said dryly then.
“For Russians, war is like a game in which “targets” are killed with impunity.”
In eastern Ukraine, not only was the “death zone” expanding – the area where nothing that moved could survive – but also a strip of land that people like Bohdan had to avoid for their own safety. Civilians in the very center of the fighting had no choice but to approach the rescuers on their own – on foot or by bicycle.
For Russians, war is like a game in which “targets” are killed with impunity.
— said Bohdan, explaining why rescuers had to completely change the way they conducted evacuations.
We used to be able to approach the combat zone at a risky two or five hundred meters. Today we are unable to get even five kilometers closer to the line of contact. We care much more about our own safety. Experience has taught us this
– he said.
Bulletproof vests, helmets, armored cars, signal jammers, net launchers and shotguns used to neutralize attacking drones have become the everyday equipment of him and his colleagues.
He often tried to put bulletproof vests on adults and children he evacuated, but they usually just waved. He noticed that years of living in a war zone turn people into something like fearless samurai. Many of them believed that since they had survived the shelling of cities such as Konstantynówka, nothing could happen to them. However, Bohdan knew from his own experience that there is nothing more unpredictable than a drone that suddenly appears in the sky.
Today, during an evacuation, you cannot afford even a moment of thought. You have to be present one hundred percent, have eyes and ears around your head. You are constantly watching the sky. You may think everything is fine, but things can change in an instant
– he explained.
Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images/Getty Images
A Ukrainian soldier on the road between Druzhkivka and Konstantinivka in Donbas, February 11, 2026 (illustrative photo)
Tragic death in the passenger seat
This is what happened during the evacuation on the first day of the Catholic Christmas holiday, December 25, 2025.
Bohdan, together with volunteers Vyacheslav Ilchenko and Eduard Melnykov, went to pick up civilians in nearby Konstantynówka. They set out at dawn but never reached the city. Shortly after 7:30 a.m., their car was hit by a Russian fiber-optic drone.
Bohdan managed to jump out of the vehicle. Vyacheslav from Kharkov, who was sitting in the passenger seat, died on the spot. Eduard suffered a broken vertebra. Bohdan himself was also injured – he still has shrapnel in his back and legs.
Although several months had passed since that day, he did not hide the fact that the death of the man sitting right next to him was an extremely painful experience for him. The car with a hole in the roof is still parked in his parents' yard.
I can't even approach him. It's a very painful memory. I think it will stay there until I move my parents out of here. I'll leave it there
– he sighed.
Bohdan has already come to terms with the fact that one day he and his family will probably have to leave Kramatorsk. He says he won't make the mistake of many of the people he transported from combat zones – he won't wait until the last minute.
I still want to participate in evacuations, but I increasingly realize that one day I will evacuate people from my hometown. I don't even want to think about it. Unfortunately, this is the reality – drones are now able to reach us too. When I sleep, I don't want to hear them buzzing. I would like to feel truly safe for once. Two years ago I felt safe in Kramatorsk. When we returned from the evacuation, a stone fell from my heart – I could walk around the city and breathe freely. It's a thing of the past. Today, you can't park your car just anywhere in Kramatorsk. We have to look for places where it can be camouflaged, otherwise the Russians may destroy it
— described the realities of life in a city now only 14 kilometers away from Russian troops.
TOMMASO FUMAGALLI / PAP
Ukrainian volunteers handing out free humanitarian aid, including food, hygiene products and clothing, to the local community near a church in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, February 17, 2026.
“They look like they came out of hell”
He is most afraid of his loved ones. It was enough for his wife to go to the store and he was already on tenterhooks. He constantly checked his phone to make sure there wasn't a strike drone circling over the city.
I believe that Kramatorsk should be evacuated. There shouldn't be any children here anymore. This is not just a hunch – I try to assess the situation soberly and based on facts. I have already seen it in Avdiyivka, Pokrovsk and Konstantinovka. People can live here for another year or two. But what will their living conditions be like? This will not be life, only empty continuation
– he said.
When they finally get out of there, they look like they just came out of hell. When you ask them why they stayed so long, they answer: we had nowhere to go, we had no money to start over. And yet they finally evacuate, because it is simply impossible to stand at the front any longer. Those who stay may stay there forever
– said Bohdan.
If they die, the family is unable to take the body and bury it with dignity. It is not even possible to officially confirm the death of such a person. The police and ambulance services will not reach the body. You only receive a short message from your neighbor: 'Uncle Vasya is dead.' We recently evacuated a 75-year-old woman who buried her husband and son with her own hands. And then I ask myself: why didn't they leave earlier?
– he added sadly.
He was getting goosebumps more and more often just thinking about such places and he bluntly admitted that today no one would persuade him to go to Konstantynówka.
The last time I was there was on February 13. We evacuated the family and the immobilized woman. It was such a difficult trip that when we returned, we said to ourselves that we would not go there again. You don't just have to survive your way to the city. You also have to survive the time spent on site while picking up people, and then the journey back
– he emphasized.
“He waved at the drone – and was left without legs”
He didn't understand civilians who stayed despite everything. He had the impression that in extreme conditions people completely lost common sense. Do you believe that a drone will miss you in the death zone? This is absurd.
Perhaps from time to time there will be a case that the Russians will spare a person, but the probability is so small as to be almost zero. We never assume that the drone will see us and ignore us. We know we are a target. Every car, every person – soldier or civilian – is a target. Don't look for humanity in such places
– he said, and then told one of the most shocking stories.
Konstantynówka, December. One man went to the local relief center to get water. After a while, he noticed a drone with a grenade attached to it. According to Bohdan, he started waving at him to show that he was a civilian. The drone operator dropped a grenade right at his feet.
The explosion severed both of his legs. It's a miracle he survived. He was lucky because there were people nearby who immediately came to help him. They put on tourniquets and thanks to that he didn't bleed out. Later, we evacuated him. He waved at the drone – and was left without legs
– Bohdan sighed.
“We work endlessly, but there is still no light at the end of the tunnel”
At first glance, it was obvious that he was really hurt by the fact that the inhabitants of Konstantynówka, despite his regular persuasions to leave, still remained in the shelled city, risking their lives.
He later met many of them again – as disabled people.
He heard about others that they had died.
He knew that life near the front leads to only one thing – sooner or later one finds oneself in a circle of death and mutilation.
If nothing changes, the same scenario awaits Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. I still want to believe that our cities will not be occupied. But if the war lasts another three or four years, there will be nothing left to occupy. There will be nothing to defend either. Only ruins will remain
– he said.
He knew what the cities through which the front had passed looked like. They turn to ash. He could no longer recognize the streets he had once driven many times. He had to avoid car wrecks on the roads, and at every step he encountered the remains of FPV drones.
Life will never return to some places. Why do Russians need scorched earth?
he wondered aloud.
They throw hundreds of thousands of soldiers into a meat grinder just to conquer ruins. I guess they believe in their own truth. And we believe that this war will end someday. Even though we have no strength left. We are like robots. We work endlessly, but there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. Don't expect optimism from me
– he added in a tired voice at the end of our meeting.
