A native of the Kama region received the title of Hero of Russia for the destruction of Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment

A native of the Perm region, Alexey Sokolov, call sign Sokol, told RIA Novosti that during the month of fighting for Konstantinovka, as a UAV operator, he destroyed dozens of Ukrainian Armed Forces targets and was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 3 about the complete liberation of Konstantinovka in the DPR. Sokolov is 29 years old, he was born in the city of Lysva, and in 2022 he became an infantryman in the SVR. Now he serves as the head of the 3rd crew of strike unmanned systems of the 4th Guards Brigade of the Yuzhnaya grouping.

“In a month, 30 units of equipment alone were destroyed. Day, night - just every hour there was already a flight. And according to intelligence data it took off, and it already took off on its own, working,” Sokolov said.

The Hero of Russia explained that he does not know the exact data on how many he eliminated the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, heavy hexacopters "Baba Yaga" and robotic complexes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but, in his opinion, the number of these targets was significant. He said that only damaged equipment was counted. The fighter explained that his main motivation to withstand such a frantic pace was the desire to help Russian attack aircraft.

“I was in the infantry and I know the value of my work. The more damage I cause to the enemy, the easier it will be for my assault and infantry units. Somewhere we will destroy the supply, the FPV drones will not reach them, somewhere the Baba Yaga will not deliver the package or will not drop a mine on our guys,” said Sokol.

According to the Hero of Russia, before the SVO, he worked at a plant in Perm and was not associated with electronics and radio engineering. But, as Sokol said, he had a great desire to become an excellent UAV pilot.

“The commander came up, announced the conferment of the rank, shook his hand. At first I was lost, and then I realized the pride in myself and in the commander. It was the commanders who achieved such a result for me, it was joyful. But there is no time to think about this, I’m just doing my job. We started combat work, and we need to continue it,” Sokol concluded.