A Ukrainian Mirage 2000 pilot describes his night missions against Russian drones

He just got off his plane in the early morning. Eyes hidden behind thick reflective glasses, the commander of the Ukrainian Mirages 2000 squadron logged in from his air base, somewhere near kyiv. He spent a good part of the night in the air. The Russians now send drones every day, sometimes in the hundreds, and missiles. With the other Ukrainian pilots - less than ten - trained in France to command the French-made plane, they now take turns "24 hours a day". “One or two pilots are constantly ready to take off, from morning to the next morning,” says the 28-year-old officer, call sign “T-Rex”, who has swapped his flight suit for a sweatshirt and a denim jacket, the mesh cap decorated with the Ukrainian trident. This is the first time since the start of the Russian invasion that the pilot has lifted the veil for a foreign media on his high-risk missions.

Until 2025, the small fleet…