Ukraine's drone-hunting judges fight on two fronts

By Yurii Kovalenko and Valentyn Ogirenko

When Ukrainian judge Vladyslav Tsukurov learned he could serve his country with both gavel and gun, he jumped at the chance.

By day, he helps keep the wartime judicial system going, ruling over civil and criminal cases outside Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

By night, he joins a volunteer force mostly made up of fellow judges, law enforcement officials and other public servants shining searchlights into the sky, trying to spot Russian drones and shoot them down with machine guns.

Judges are exempt from the draft. But he said he signed up after his daughters chose to stay in the country as the fighting raged. "As a father, I must protect them," he said. "My family chose Ukraine."

Russian forces, advancing on the battlefield, are increasingly striking Ukrainian towns and cities and focusing their fire on infrastructure as winter sets in and demand for electricity rises.

Much of the job of scanning the skies for incoming attacks falls to territorial defence units, most of them made up of a random collection of volunteers and recruits.

Tsukurov's unit, called "Mriya" ("Dream"), was founded soon after Russia's February 2022 invasion by a former Supreme Court justice who drew on his contacts.

"We are all judges from different courts, and we find a common language. And I believe this is one of the best teams," said Tsukurov, a native of Kharkiv.

Ukraine's judiciary is badly understaffed - something the government has said it needs to address as it tries to meet the terms of joining the European Union.

Sleepless nights on air-defence duty can put further pressure on their day jobs.

"The only thing is fatigue. Lately, air-raid alarms have been ringing all night," said Leonid Merzlyi, a municipal judge in a Kyiv suburb, near his heavy machine gun.

"Then you go to work, and ... you need to listen to cases."