One of 68th Brigade’s best UAV operators Saba killed in action
Pravda Ukraine
Junior Sergeant Viktor Stelmakh, 29, who went under the alias Saba, was killed on the front on 18 October. He was considered one of the best drone operators in his brigade.
Source: 68th Jaeger Brigade named after Oleksa Dovbush on Facebook; Commander Andrii Onistrat
Quote from the brigade: “He went to defend the country from the first days of the full-scale invasion. First in the infantry, and later he began flying drones. He was at the forefront of creating the Dovbush Hornets unit. He became the best in his field and trained others.
He resigned from the military but couldn’t stay away for long and returned. He believed he had to fight against the injustice and cruelty that Russia has brought to our land. He killed a lot of occupiers.
And yesterday [18 October], he was killed…”
Details: Onistrat specified that Saba was from Rivne Oblast and personally killed over 500 Russians on the battlefield.
Quote from Onistrat: “We conceived and implemented the Dovbush Hornets together.
He trained a huge number of pilots.
Whenever I introduced him to someone, I would say: if everyone fought like Saba, we would have won the war a long time ago.”
Details: Ukrainska Pravda reported that the soldier had been killed on the Pokrovsk front.
Saba was the main character in a UP report from the Kupiansk-Lyman line in August 2023, when his 68th brigade successfully repelled a Russian offensive from Luhansk Oblast.
UP journalists spent a day with his crew at their positions.
Saba fought alongside his brother-in-arms who go under the aliases Horyn, and Lug and with whom he served from the first days of the war. The 68th Brigade considered him to be one of the best and most effective pilots in the unit.
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