UAV operator and actress, call sign Bond: ’When I was asked if I was scared, I said that only time I felt scared was in 2022, when I received my weapon. Because I didn’t know how to use it yet!’"

However, there is one diametric difference between these two Bonds. The classic James Bond of the Jan Fleming film is an icon of a masculine and victorious image, and the Hollywood Bondiana even has such a role as a "Bond girl." Whereas our Tetiana Bondarenko has never allowed herself to be someone's makeweight, even if charismatic ones. Both in the AFU and in this interview, she defends her fundamental belief that a woman is no worse a warrior than a man.

But this was not the only topic of our conversation. Bond spoke about her path in the Russian-Ukrainian war, her military routine as a shooter and UAV operator; she explained why the field of UAVs and electronic warfare is evolving most rapidly in this war. She also tried to convince a skeptical Censor.NET correspondent why Oleh Liashko (yes, the same one) is a truly competent military commander.

Intrigued? Then let's start our own Bondiana.

- I'll start with a somewhat non-stereotypical question: does the Armed Forces have stereotypes about actresses in the war? Do you hear things like: "Darling, this is not a theater, this is a war"?

- I have never heard of such a thing. But I think there are certain stereotypes. For example, I have a loud voice, I am an actress and sometimes I express my thoughts quite loudly. And my company commander once told me: I understand, of course, that it's hard to confine an actor's spirit within military limits but please try not to be so loud (smiles. - Ye.K.).

Footage from Bond's pre-war acting life

- Well, that's quite normal, it was said with humor.

-Yes. And honestly, it’s really heartwarming to see representatives of the acting profession in this war. I didn’t expect to meet so many people from creative fields here – but I did! Musicians, actors, artists. My theater colleague is also serving in another TDF.

Speaking of stereotypes. Another guy, a poet, has heard more than once: "Boy, why should we let you go to the front line in the trenches? You're a poet, you'd better write about us later...

As for me, maybe there were some expectations that an actress would behave in an eccentric way. But I'm not that eccentric and I don't dream of being in the spotlight. And when I first joined the military team - and there were men from other fields with whom I would never have met in my life under normal circumstances - I was very quiet at first. And my sister Sonia was surprised to hear me say: "Wow, you don't seem to like being the center of attention." And I told her: "Sonia, when I have something to say, I will say it. But just to make noise to be heard - no.

- I heard something about how you applied documents to a military unit back in 2014. I also heard about how, when you met the military, you felt ashamed that they were at war and you were in the rear. And I want to ask: where did this passionarity and your atypical view of things come from? Because it's unlikely that many of your friends had the same perception of the situation.

- Atypical? Well, I don't know. Perhaps you are born with such passionarity attitude to life. Besides, my father is a military man, and when I was a kid I wanted to be in the military. Maybe that's where it came from; most children of military people dream of a military career at some point. Because at a certain stage, it is romantic. Especially when you are young.

But you said "atypical," and it triggered me because what other attitude could there be? However, when on February 24, when I arrived at the military registration and enlistment office very early, there was no one there, I was surprised. Because I remember how there were lines in 2014. I was like, why is there no one there? Well, okay, I'll do it myself... So for me, going to war, wanting to go there is a completely understandable typical reaction. It's as if you've been slapped in the face, and the first natural desire is to fight back.

- In the first days of the war, you received weapons in the TDF.  What kind were they, and how did you get along with them?

- I received a Kalashnikov assault rifle. When I was asked if I was scared, I said that the only time I was scared was in 2022, when I received my weapon. Because I didn't know how to use it yet!

But then they started taking us to shooting. From the very beginning, I was very fond of my assault rifle. And when, in early March, our weapons were taken away from us, women non-commissioned officers, for just 3-5 days, I was so offended! Because guys with weapons went on duty, to combat posts, and I did not have a weapon. And I could not go to combat posts. I sat on a mattress. And I was so angry! I thought, that's it, I'm going to go get my weapon. I came and said: give me my assault rifle! Of course, they gave me not my assault rifle, but another one. But I was using that other assault rifle for a very long time. Just two months ago, I handed it over when I was transferred to another unit. I was very fond of it. I even signed it with a black marker. There are different types of assault rifles, but my Ak-74 was completely black, without wooden inserts, and I called it Murchyk - I signed it with a marker.

- Murchyk?

- Murchyk. I had a black cat with that name, and I loved him very much.

- At this point in the war, in which areas did you and Murchyk have to fight?

- Donetsk direction, mostly Lyman, Serebrianskyi forest.

- In the beginning, you, a rifleman, were not taken to zero line because you were a woman. What did they say to you then, and how did you try to break through this wall?

- They said: we don't take women to the front line. I had an incident when we left in the spring, our second company went to Serebrianskyi Forest, separately from the battalion. I was already a UAV operator. But I was told the same thing: we do not take women to the front line. We were then assigned to an airborne assault unit.

- Was it offensive?

- Yes. We have people who go to combat, then come back and have a 3-4 day break. Then they go out again. And during those 3-4 days of break, the Airborne School organized training to improve and maintain combat skills. And it was like this: I am not allowed to go to the front line, but please come to the training. So I came. They looked at me as if they saw an elephant in the street. The commander of the air assault unit approached me: "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I stepped back. He said: With all due respect, you can go to training, but I won't let you go to zero line.

- That's tough. What about you?

- I said, "You do realize that this is discrimination, don't you?" He said: "Yes, I understand. I treat women well, I respect them, I'm married, I have a wife, and that's why I won't let women go to zero line."

I asked: - "Do you understand that if I were married and said that I have a husband and I don't take men to combat because I have a husband and I respect and love men, how adequate would that sound?" - "Yes, I understand, but this is my position. That's it. "

It was an impenetrable wall. But I went to training and did everything. And they looked at me with such surprise... And it was not the command, but the guys themselves who came up to me... So you can understand that the airborne assault troops, even at the age of 23, are no longer elite young musclemen. No, they are not. These are the same TDFs, men aged 35-40+. So, they came up and said: "It's great, but we haven't seen a woman training like this. I told them: thank the command for not allowing women to be with you...

In the imagination of many Ukrainian men, both commanders and soldiers, women are some creatures with legs who do not know how to do anything but manicure, pedicure and lipstick, some pretty parasites on a working man's body. And when they see a real, real woman who does the same things as men and is no worse than men, they are like: wow, we didn't know... Congratulations, this is reality!

- I will quote from your interview with colleagues in Kyiv Daily. "During my years in the army, I didn't see anything that a woman couldn't do. It's a matter of training. Women can do exactly the same things as men."

Do you still hold this position?

- This has been proven by many of my sisters-in-arms. For example, Xena, a machine gunner, a young girl even shorter than me – but she runs with a machine gun! I wouldn’t take a machine gun myself – it’s too heavy for me.

- I would just like to argue with you a little bit from the standpoint of male chauvinism. Tetiana, how can a woman stand many hours of digging trenches and shelters?

- It's easy. It's easy. Even on this rotation, even though we are UAV operators, we still make our own positions, dig dugouts if we don't find a ready-made one. There was a situation when the guys said: we need to fly and dig a dugout. You will fly, and we will dig. And I said to them, 'Good God! No, I will fly and dig with you. I'm not going to fly for you, and you're not going to dig for me.

Because those who will dig for you will be the first to say: "Oh, you hired women, they don't know how to do this or that, do everything for them!" I am an advocate of equality, I always insist on equal distribution of work. And my colleagues have seen that I dig as well as I fly.

- Let's move on. What about the hours-long defense of the borders, which requires serious physical and psychological endurance?

- This is a matter of preparation and, above all, desire. If you have the desire, you will prepare properly. Gender does not matter. Again, Xena is a small girl and yet she is a superb machine gunner! And I have seen men who look so strong and big, but when they lifted a machine gun a couple of times, that was it! Their backs hurt, their shoulders hurt, their knees hurt - because they had no physical training! No health!

Why do I think women are even better in some ways? Not because they are somehow special by nature, but because our patriarchal society is more demanding of women. And women take better care of their health. I have not seen a single alcoholic woman, but many men have been drinking for years at war. It's a habit, an inability to cope with stress. It's a habit of drinking away stress, an inability to communicate, an unwillingness to seek psychologists. And men smoke much more. And women take care of their health. And that's why women are better soldiers in wartime. The healthier a soldier is, the better he/she fights.

Once, in the first weeks of the war, our unit moved to a new location near Kyiv and had to fortify itself. Some carried sandbags, others drove a car to reconnoiter the area. I couldn't lift a sandbag - it was too heavy, and I couldn't drive a car, so I spent most of the day lying on a mattress. Yes, there were night and day patrols, and I went on duty, but that was it. And I was so ashamed, I felt like the most useless person in the army! And I was paid for it! And in civilian life, I was running around like a hamster in the spinning wheel seven days a week, working several jobs for much less money!

- I understand how you felt.

- ...And then I had such a great commander. He called me up one day and said: "I am 10 out of 10 satisfied with you. Why? You take care of your health. (It was still very cold then, men would talk a big game, and then they would get pneumonia, runny nose, illnesses.) And you don't complain, unlike many people. You fulfill your duties well, you're a good man."

Women, by the way, really complain less. When I saw men throwing tantrums 24/7: I didn't sleep enough, I slept too much, I didn't eat enough, I ate too much, I don't like this, I don't like that... I wondered: why, was it possible? Women are treated differently than men, more biased. If one woman complains even a little bit, they will reproach all women! And that's why women are more reserved and demanding of themselves.

- I will continue to bend my chauvinistic line, but I will come from a different direction. Maybe you, Xena, and the women you met in the war are a few exceptions that don't need to break the system of views? After all, women in the war are very good at fighting in evacuation vehicles and on emergency departments. Is this enough?

- No, it's not. Remember how many women combat medics we have! The first thing they asked me was: "Are you a medic?" No, I'm not a medic and I'm not going to be a medic in any case, it's one of the few combat professions that doesn't tempt me. Why? Because it's really very hard, physically and psychologically. It seems to me that killing is much easier than saving. We once talked to a combat medic during a training session. We asked him about wounds to the pelvic area - how to recognize it, what to do? He said: "That person will scream so loudly that you will not mistake this scream for anything else. He said: "I had my first stationing as a combat medic, and a guy was wounded in the pelvic area. And now I have his balls in one hand and a turnstile in the other..."

And I'm standing there, listening, and I have chills. I don't know if I would have been able to cope with such a situation.

There are a lot of strong, brave women, but not all of them are recruited because of prejudice.

- You say that your worldview makes it easier for you to kill than to save. Have you ever had to kill?

- With drops from a drone - yes. Either I killed or seriously wounded a person, who was lying down and not moving.

- What were the circumstances?

- It was back in the Serebrianskyi forest. We were flying a drone and saw a group of Muscovites coming. We loaded the drone with an explosive payload, flew to the target, caught up with them, and then dropped it.

With drones, it's like a computer game. There is a minimum of emotion, except for the excitement of catching up and hitting.

- You were transferred from riflemen to UAV pilots. How did it happen?

- It was partly a forced decision. TDF units are not independent, we are always attached to someone, helping other units of the Armed Forces to fulfill their tasks. And after the first year at the front, I realized that even if I have a great commander who will not hesitate to send me to zero line, there will always be a senior commander who has a twisted mindset and will say "we don't take women to zero line." And I want to actively fight. I approached my infantry commander and said: send me to a UAV course. A UAV operator is not an infantryman at zero line, not an assault pilot, a little further from zero line, but still an active participant in combat operations. My commander sent me to a drone operator course. That's how I became a UAV operator.

And they said that this wall was impossible to break through...

- I was lucky to have a very adequate infantry commander. Not every commander I will call my commander, but I was lucky to have several of my commanders. This commander, who sent me to the UAV course, he then brought me to the zero line as an infantryman - and I had three of my happiest days on the front line, on the zero line, with bullets whizzing by. Three days at zero line, with my commander, with my infantry company, doing what I knew how to do, what I dreamed of - how happy I was those three days!

- You felt needed.

- Yes, I did. Needed and 100 percent ready for the challenges that were in front of me.

- You're an actress, so you don't have to be a math and science girl to work with drones? How long did it take you to learn your new specialization?

- To be honest, as a humanitarian, I feel that I really lack technical training. I really lack technical education. I studied and graduated from the Lviv Dronarium courses, and later from the Application of Technology in Warfare and UAV Engineer, Basic Course by Victory Drones. But the field of UAVs is very dynamic, it is constantly evolving, in six months the information is already largely outdated, you have to constantly learn!

As a double humanitarian, I lack solid technical knowledge, so working in a UAV is a challenge for me to some extent. Plus, I've spent my whole life dancing and acrobatics, not embroidery - I have better gross motor skills than fine motor skills. And I'm an assault fighter by nature, so the sedentary work of a UAV pilot is a big challenge for me! My actor's nature also gets in the way - I fly a drone and feel like a drone, the drone turns to the right and I turn my body behind it. I envy twenty-something gamers who sit calmly at the console and barely move their fingers. But I realize that modern warfare is a war of technology, and this is the future. Infantry and assault forces are great, but they are yesterday's news. The future is in technology, there are more prospects here.

- This is an interesting thing: it has always been believed that when you play a lot on the computer, it sucks. Because physically you lose your health and many skills. They say, why do children sit at computers? They'd be better off running around in the yard! And then it turns out that most of this war is designed for this...

- Exactly. And what children used to be scolded for has become more useful to them than ever.

- And now those who are building new units for the UAV troops often motivate even the younger recruits by the rules of computer games, bonuses, and so on. The people who organize this approach it from the beginning as motivation through a computer game.

- Yes. And again, it's not about age or gender. When I was taking fpv courses, I saw men 40+ flying as if they had been flying fpvs all their lives. And here I am, after the Mavic, flying an FPV, and I can't even understand where it's going and how it's moving! I'm told to follow the trajectory... Wait, I should at least understand where it's going, not crash it in the first 10 seconds!

But I realize that the future is with UAVs, and there is less sexism here. Also, take into account age - even in the recruitment of UAV operators, you see more and more often "age under 40".

- Tell us about a typical mission and what your role is in it.

- I'm currently working as a UAV operator in the Lyman direction. We work from a dugout. We have 2 groups, one working and the other resting. Then we switch. All the equipment is stationary in the working dugout - remote antennas, eco-flo, generator, etc. The group brings water, food, and consumables as needed. We usually stay for three days. Although sometimes it is for 2, sometimes for 6 days - it depends on the situation at the front and the number of people in the unit... During the day, we agree on how the pilots change among themselves. For example, you fly for 5 hours and rest for 5. We work in twos. The other pilots are responsible for taking the drone out, equipping it, taking care of the generator, and putting the batteries on charge. The operator is in charge of flight control, observation and communication with the operational duty officer.

- Are drones your main consumable?

- Unfortunately, yes. All pilots-operators are interested in the drone's survival, in its doing its job as efficiently as possible, but... there are weather conditions, there is enemy electronic warfare. There are shooters who shoot down drones. From what we can see, the Muscovites have specially trained snipers who work specifically on drones. At an altitude of 200-250 meters, they shot down a drone with small arms. So there are many circumstances that can cause a drone to die. Sometimes, the human factor also works - operators are also human.

- What kind of drones does your unit mainly deal with?

- These are Mavic, Mavic-3E, 3PRO, 3T - for night flights.

- Can you say that in this war, it is the UAV sector that is changing the fastest, because the enemies are constantly trying to surprise and outwit each other?

- Yes, it's the battle of drones and EW (Electronic Warfare). They are the driving force behind progress in both areas. And now, on our front, we've seen enemy FPVs on fiber optics, which EW doesn't affect. Fiber optics – a spool, a thin dark fiber optic thread, flies up to 10-20 km.

- How are we doing with this?

- I don't know, we don't have fiber optics in our division yet.

- You've just been on rotation in Kyiv, and you've heard and seen nighttime attacks by enemy drones. And it's even worse in Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa and other regions. What do you think about these attacks?

- We need long-range weapons and aircraft to fight their planes and disrupt their logistics.

- For some time, there was a lot of optimism in our information space about the confrontation with drones. They said that yes, the Russian government spends massively on UAVs, but they have a regulated vertical and fewer models, fewer design hubs. And we, they say, have very different structures and approaches, and this gives us an advantage. Relatively speaking, our drone workshops all work differently, and it is more difficult for the enemy to adapt to this.

But now it seems that they are now beginning to outnumber us both quantitatively and technically, simply due to the size of their country.

- I think this is a case where vertical is more effective than horizontal. We come up with new ideas faster, but it is harder for us to implement them on a large scale. The enemy, on the other hand, monitors our inventions. And their party said "we need to" and the people said "yes". Everything is being implemented very quickly and on a large scale. Because they have the capacities from the Soviet era.

- By the way, about their people. In the past, actors and actresses used to communicate a lot with Russians. What about you? What has changed since the war?

- First of all, I have relatives in Russia. My parents are divorced, my father is Russian. He is a military man, but he retired long ago.

- Do you keep in touch with them?

- No, since February 24, I have not maintained contact.

- What, this 'you're a Banderite, why did I give birth to you'?

- It didn't even come to that. When the shelling of Kyiv started in the morning, I wrote to him: do you know that you are shooting at us, at Kyiv? And I was on my way to the assembly point in the TDF.

He was like, "Don't stick your neck out there." "I'm on my way to the military registration and enlistment office." - What a silly woman.

So I blocked his contact and that was it. That was the end of our conversations.

photo by Marina Kurskieva

- Is it painful?

- At first, it was painful. But I can't say that we had good relations before that. Well, at least we greeted each other on our birthdays and New Year's Eve. It was bitter at first. But so many things happened...

- Finally, let me ask you about one more person. Tetiana, why did you say so complimentary things about Oleh Liashko's military talents on your Facebook page? 

- I'll tell you about Liashko. It was during the last rotation, in the winter of 2023, when we were assigned to a brigade where Liashko was in charge of a UAV unit. And our headquarters said (and I was in the UAV strike unit at the time, working with drops): we need to make everything burn. The commander of our strike unit replied: "Great, we can arrange it. But we need this, that and the other.

We need it, but we don't have it. We don't have it, but we need everything to burn. What to do? Our commander goes to Liashko, who is in charge of our big brother's strike UAV. He says, "Sure, I'll give it to you. Do you need drones? Yes, I will give them to you. Do you need ammunition? Yes, I will. Do you understand?

And just before he left, he came to our strike unit to thank everyone who worked, to shake hands. He came and said: "Today I was at the headquarters of Big Brother and offered your unit for awards. Because I see that they nominate their staff officers for awards, but do not nominate those who actually worked in the field, as usual. That's why I have a lot of respect for Liashko.

- Why am I so skeptical about this topic? Because as a political observer, I have known Oleh Valeriiovych for many, many years. Plus, we all remember in 2014, at the beginning of the war, the sleazy pseudo-filming on one TV channel. Add to this his undoubted acting talent, and you will understand why I initially thought about your photo: "Damn, isn't this Potemkinism?

- No, it's not. I personally saw this man at work. In his unit, he provides all the opportunities for work. But at the same time, he is demanding. For example, they had a rule: if a reconnaissance operator fails to launch a drone strike within 20 seconds of finding a target, he is reprimanded. He gives opportunities, and he is demanding. And this is a very cool quality of a commander. Because we have a lot of commanders who demand that everything burn, but do not provide opportunities for this.

- Is this not just your point of view? Do your colleagues who have worked with him also think so?

- Yes, they do. You can read the comments.

- I'm also skeptical about the comments, because there are no past politicians, and they know how to organize applause for themselves...

- There were comments from the military, who also met him directly and worked with him. I used to be skeptical of him myself: come on, Liashko with a pitchfork, we all know this anecdotal image, and so on. But here I saw this man in person. And I worked with him live.

- I mean, I was skeptical, too, but he made me change my mind

- Exactly. He changed my point of view. I was quite skeptical. (I have such a skeptical attitude towards all politicians). But at the front, the man is doing a great job.

- We started our conversation with the topic of acting, and we'll end it with it. Have you ever used your acting talents in this war? Perhaps to raise the spirits of your brothers and sisters.

- No. In this regard, no. There was no such opportunity. And, to be honest, I don't want to be told, like this poet, that we are taking care of you, that you will raise our spirits! No, I don't. I don't want to be looked at as an actress - God forbid they'll still cherish me as an actress! I don't.

- Tetiana, the heroes of my interviews ask me to donate for different things: some for drones, some for electronic warfare systems. What does your unit need most?

- Now the autumn weather with rain and mud is starting - this is a big test for our vehicles. The vehicles are our faithful troop carriers, they transport us and our "UAVs" to the place of work, and the roads at the front are very difficult, especially in autumn and winter. So now we need funds to repair our faithful troop carriers!

Attention: Those who want to help Tetiana's unit with the repair of work vehicles can use the following information:

5457082253513522 - the number of the card with the fundraising for the repair of cars of the unit in which Tetiana Bondarenko serves 

Yevhen Kuzmenko, Censor.NET

Photo: from the archive of Tetiana Bondarenko