Inside Ukraine’s 505th Marine Battalion: Frontline Defense and Drone Warfare in Kherson

“This direction is challenging: open terrain, fields, the enemy knows all the paths and routes, bombards us with FPV drones and mines. Today, our crew was hit again,” shares a fighter from the 505th Separate Marine Battalion with the call sign Altair.

We meet him in the Kherson region, where the marines hold part of the front line along the Dnipro River. Until November 2022, the right bank of the region was under Russian control, so the terrain is familiar to the enemy not only from maps.

Altair is a guide in the armored group responsible for logistics. They deliver fighters and supplies to positions and evacuate the wounded. The marines themselves describe their service in this area as active defense. The Russians constantly try to capture river islands to establish a foothold on the right bank.

“Fire from the hood is pouring in, I can’t see anything”

We met the crew of the armored group of the 505th battalion back in December 2024 on the Kurakhiv direction. At that time, Altair was driving a Kirpi APC to mine the area when they were struck by a Russian FPV drone. The driver suffered a severe arm injury, and several sappers sustained moderate injuries. Altair escaped with only scratches. The Kirpi had to be pulled out of a ditch.

Altair considers this incident a coincidence: the Russians hit a vulnerable spot on the Kirpi, and panic broke out during the evacuation. Now all the wounded have recovered and are back in service. The APC was repaired and continues to carry out missions in the coastal areas despite the constant risk of drone and artillery strikes.

Altair closes the door of the Mastiff armored vehicle. Soon his crew will head to the front-line positions to rotate infantrymen.

The driver, Mastiff, nicknamed Shustryi, is behind the wheel. At night, the crew does not turn on the headlights – they rely on night vision devices.

“The enemy is right across the river. This allows them to control the area from the sky and respond quickly. It’s hard for us to hide, so we look for different ways to use electronic warfare systems, constantly inventing and scheming,” Altair explains.

Shustryi and Altair prepare the Mastiff for a night mission to firing positions. The day before my arrival, the armored group again faced an incident – they came under Russian fire while delivering a group of fighters to a position and evacuating several who had concussions. An anti-drone net saved them by entangling the drone.

“Everything was fine: we arrived, loaded up, and moved out. Then on the highway, an FPV drone caught up with us,” Shustryi recounts. “The night vision went out, fire was pouring from the hood, I couldn’t see anything. I pulled over to the roadside and thought I was done for. But then I saw a road sign on the highway and slowly drove toward it.”

“If you want to live, you’ll run”

The grenade launcher crews are part of fire support groups that control positions on the Dnipro’s shore together with adjacent units.

The SPG Vegas gunner is only 20 years old and has been in the army for 10 months. He initially served in a brigade logistics battalion but later transferred to the 505th battalion. His comrade Tor served in the Air Force but was reassigned to the marines following a command order.

“We use shaped charges against equipment and fragmentation shells against infantry,” Vegas says about the SPG’s use in the area. “We react immediately when the enemy starts moving closer or sets up new observation posts.”

The soldier notes that the main thing now is to deploy quickly, fire, and hide in cover: “Many drones are hunting us; you can’t just drive around calmly. But if you want to live, you’ll run.”

The fighters are commanded by Sergeant with the call sign Fartovyi. The 25-year-old soldier has fought on the Donetsk front and participated in the Ukrainian Armed Forces operation in Krynyky, where he stayed for 72 days.

“It was hell,” the soldier recalls. “Shooting fights at five meters, throwing grenades at each other. Evacuations were very difficult. When there was a chance to get someone out, we sent out the severely wounded. But the hardest part still is getting rid of the pain from losing comrades,” Fartovyi remembers.

“We try to resist, but they have the numbers”

In the 505th battalion, as in many other units, there is active work on developing the drone component. They already have a mobile engineering lab where fighters prepare drones for combat, work with ground robotic systems, and experiment with new technologies.

“Most drones from the state and volunteers still need to be adapted to our tasks. For this, we look for and train people, create conditions for their work. And since drones are one of the main means of attack and reconnaissance, there is a lot of work,” says UAV engineer with the call sign Saltivka.

Saltivka, originally from Kharkiv, worked in auto repair before joining the military. He notes that the Russians have significantly scaled up the production and use of drones, electronic warfare, and radio-electronic reconnaissance tools that help them detect Ukrainian positions. On the southern front, Russian pilots have also started using more fiber-optic FPV drones.

“If you compare the situation now to six months ago, it’s worse: there are many enemy drones, and they are more effective. We try to resist, but they have the numbers,” adds another UAV specialist whom comrades simply call Ivanovich.

“We don’t separate whether it’s Kherson or Donbas”

At a small training ground covered with field grasses, FPV drone pilots practice controlling various models and prepare for combat missions. Among the soldiers is an English-speaking woman who jokes loudly. Anna Tatu was born in Poland. She was born without one leg. As a baby, she was adopted by a family from Belgium, and as an adult, Anna found her biological parents, who told her she has Ukrainian roots.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Anna came to volunteer in Donbas – buying cars, generators, electronic warfare equipment, often for marine units. Then she decided to join the fighters: she has been serving in the 505th battalion for several months. Recently, Anna completed an obstacle course and finally received a sea-wave-colored beret.

“I dreamed of becoming a soldier since childhood. It didn’t work out in Belgium, so I really wanted to join the Ukrainian army. Negotiations with various commanders were long, but one day I heard the long-awaited ‘yes’,” Anna says.

FPV drone pilot Marik came to the marines from the Air Force. He piloted a boat during operations on the Dnipro and later joined the 505th battalion’s strike UAV unit. The fighter wanted this position so much that he mastered FPV operation in just a couple of months.

The commander of the 505th battalion’s strike UAV unit, with the call sign Demon, speaks of his subordinates as well-motivated people who understand both their role and the risks involved. Demon is from the Kherson region.

“Defending your homeland is a special feeling,” the soldier says. “But Donbas and Zaporizhzhia are also ours, so we never separate. The order is to be where we are needed.”

In 2022, Demon was under occupation in Kherson but eventually managed to leave and evacuate his family to Kryvyi Rih. After settling them, he volunteered for the military. He learned to work with drones in courses in Britain and then in combat conditions in Ukraine.

In a few months in Kherson, the strike drone pilots of the unit have already hit dozens of observation posts and Russian personnel on the left bank of the Dnipro, as well as their vehicles and armored cars.

“They were recently cruising arrogantly in a BTR, shelling our positions on the right bank, and our aerial reconnaissance just reported their equipment, so we launched a strike. Flying, we saw that ‘BTR.’ We hit it – it caught fire,” recalls FPV pilot with the call sign Vakha about a recent combat sortie.

“Stopping them and taking revenge is now a matter of principle”

The 505th battalion is commanded by an officer with the call sign Komisar. A career military man, he met the full-scale Russian invasion in Mariupol as deputy commander of the assault company of the 36th Marine Brigade. Then came the battles for the city, captivity in Olenivka, exchange, and return in September 2022.

“I always wanted to serve in the infantry, closer to the ground, as they say,” Komisar says with a smile. When talking about his people, he first mentions their motivation.

22-year-old fighter of the 505th battalion with the call sign Chel arrived from Europe in February 2022. The marine recruitment center sent him to train first in the Netherlands and then in Romania. Chel’s first battle was in April 2023 on islands near Kherson. He suffered a severe injury on the Kurakhiv direction.

“I was lucky that my comrades didn’t leave me during the artillery shelling but dragged me into the APC and gave first aid. Later, doctors had to amputate part of my leg,” Chel recounts.

After treatment and rehabilitation, Chel returned to the 505th battalion with a prosthetic leg. He now serves at an observation post, monitors the battlefield situation, and maintains communication with units involved in operations. But he dreams of returning to the infantry.

“My motivation is even higher now. The Russians came to my land, hurt me, and are killing our people. Stopping them and taking revenge is now a matter of principle,” Chel says.

The young man believes that neither the Ukrainian government nor the military command will make territorial concessions. “Russia demands that we retreat and give them Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Then what was the point of our sacrifices?” he asks rhetorically. “We must not give up.”