Erfan Kudusov: Ukrainian Forces Are Already Waiting In Crimea

We should get ahead of the Russians.

A well-known civic activist, one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar people, Erfan Kudusov, told Charter97.org about the resistance in Crimea, a personal holiday related to the destruction of the Russian missile boat Ivanovets and the unique project he heads.

A group of Ukrainian military and engineers create robotic remote-controlled anti-aircraft missile systems for the Armed Forces of Ukraine:

— So, about us. The project members are active military, people who are at the forefront and sometimes even further. These are fighters from the MANPADS crews — guys who take the Stinger, Strela, Ihla, Hrom on their shoulders and shoot — and that's all. But it's actually a very dangerous job. If there are priority targets for the enemy at the forefront — a tank or a MANPADS crew, then they target MANPADS. Because such a crew poses the maximum danger to the enemy — aircraft, helicopters, the Lancet, Zala, Shahed UAVs and so on. First of all, they will target MANPADS.

When a crew of MANPADS has reached the position — so they are in danger initially. After all, they have to shoot from an open area. Also, the fighters can not immediately shoot, because the preparation takes time — the heat-guiding head is cooled with a special gas. It takes five to seven seconds, but it's also time. Also the rocket activation algorithm takes time. In conditions of war, when the enemy is technologically equal, and sometimes superior to Ukrainians, this is a huge danger and loss of fighters, which we would not like very much. Unfortunately, during the time we worked, there were wounded and dead.

Therefore, Ukrainian fighters initiated the creation of a remote robotic MANPADS system. The guys with an engineering mindset, with experience and understanding of what is needed, because the lives of Ukrainian fighters depend on it.

In our team there are several groups of talented engineers who represent the defence enterprises of Ukraine. They are a very strong team in terms of creating a new device. And in our case — the MANPADS system could be controlled remotely.

What have we already done? Three prototypes were tested in the course of these two years. The prototypes were controlled by cable. Today we are already close to creating a professional device, since the first samples were "homemade" and we were doing it between combat missions. All this was fraught with danger.

By the way, the team, which is working with our crew, shot down two Ka-52 helicopters and one Su-24 aircraft. This is damage to Russia for tens of millions of dollars.

Many nodes and systems were tested on these three prototypes. It is already clear where to go next. Today, we are creating the first production sample, which, if it is not put into plant production, still receives a small-scale production line.

Unfortunately, all the procedures related to obtaining grants, certification and codification, receipt of securities from the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine are a rather long process.

We must take our fighters as far away from the enemy as possible, so that everything that was fired was close to the Russians, and our soldiers were at a distance. The current war is technological in its nature. Drones have already begun to replace artillery. The more technologically advanced we are, the more lives and health of our fighters we can save.

— Let's talk about the situation in Crimea. Yesterday, the Ukrainian forces struck the Russian Belbek airbase hard. Surely it was not without the help of the local resistance.

— I'm constantly in touch with Crimea and understand what could be there, what was happening there and what will happen. Of course, without information from the inside, it would be ten times more difficult for the Ukrainian forces to operate. Our special services have a lot of inside information. The enemy will not be able to drown out its flow. After all, a huge part of the Crimean people (I will not say that the overwhelming majority, but very large part) resists. They cannot fight openly, but they can provide information and talk about what is happening. We can do illegal work, and we do it.

The daily shelling of the objects of the occupation army in Crimea is the result of the joint work of the GUR (Ukrainian Defence Intelligence), the Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, our units, and the locals. The blows would have been far less intensive without this assistance.

I can say that I have a personal holiday today. Yesterday, Ukrainian soldiers drowned the Ivanovets missile boat. Why is this a personal moment for me? I am a Ivanovo citizen myself. I studied in the Russian city of Ivanovo, graduated from the university there. It was the “joy with a special cynicism” for me when I heard this news.

After all, a lot of my classmates live in this city, there were my friends. When the war began in 2014, I called everyone: "Guys, oppose, do something, do not go to Crimea." No one wanted to hear that. Then I told them that there would be a war of such magnitude that would affect everyone. The people were silent. Now their relatives, neighbors and friends receive coffins and "black body bags" from Ukraine.

For me, it is very good news that the missile boat Ivanovets was sunk in Donuzlav, on the shore where I have a huge land plot.

— Crimea was occupied almost 10 years ago. Is Russian propaganda influencing the locals? How many people are waiting for the Ukrainian forces?

— Sure, propaganda influences. It works according to the system that Goebbels once told about: “If you tell a man that one is a pig 20 times — he grunts.” But this system does not work everywhere and not for everyone. A sufficiently large percentage of the people in Crimea is not amenable to propaganda. People are waiting and acting. Many of them do not want to fight, they leave Crimea so that either their children or they themselves are not mobilized.

Evaluating in numbers is a complex process, it will be a "bad shot". We see in the Yellow Ribbon campaign, when people take pictures of objects in Crimea against the background of a yellow ribbon, which means returning to Ukraine, that there are a lot of such people. This is partisan work, and the well-known ATESH group. The situation is radically different from Donbas and Luhansk. We are absolutely sure of that. People are waiting, we are constantly in touch with them.

However, they've been doing their job for ten years. Ukraine cannot constantly influence local residents, many channels of information are closed. The children, who were 12-13 in 2014, became adults. Unfortunately, we are losing young people in Crimea, this is the fact.

That is why the war today should be more effective and faster, and this requires modern weapons and the help of Western partners. Not just assistance with Soviet or Western weapons, which was produced in the 70-80s, but with the latest samples, which should be tested in Ukraine.

We, the Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians, who are most interested in victory, are trying to create new types of weapons that are not even available in the West. I can say that the same MANPADS that are used in the American army, for example — Avenger, unfortunately, are not always applicable in Ukraine. The intensity of the battles and the level of the enemy's technologies are on a different level. The same Avengers, which have not yet reached the forefront, may be amazed by the Russians, since they know their shapes.

Therefore, we need modern weapons, tested in Ukraine, and support from the Ukrainian defence sector. Then we'll defeat the enemy.

We also need enough modern weapons, three pieces will not give anything, we need three hundred or three thousand pieces. Everything needs to be done on time, and not according to the principle — "something happened — they gave a weapon". We should get ahead of the Russians. If we do this, and the West will help, then we will quickly defeat the Russians.

You can support a unique project that will save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers

Details of volunteer bank accounts:

UAH:

5168 7456 1052 0246 ERFAN KUDUSOV

PRIVATBANK MFO 305299

IBAN UA363052990262096400933534168

Beneficiary account 262096400933534168

Taxpayer Registration Identification Card Number of the beneficiary 2511812717

Purpose of payment – volunteer assistance for the Guided Robotic MANPADS project

https://send.monobank.ua/jar/35d84Vfie7

PAYPAL - [email protected]

USD:

5168 7456 1052 0253

BENEFICIARY:

Beneficiary (Full name of the account holder in Latin and address)

KUDUSOV ERFAN, 01001, Ukraine,city Kyiv,street Mitropolita Andreia Sheptitskogo, building 3B, flat 57

ACCOUNT:

Account with the beneficiary's bank (plastic card number or current account with PRIVATBANK)

5168745610520253

BANK OF BENEFICIARY:

Beneficiary's bank

JSC CB PRIVATBANK, 1D HRUSHEVSKOHO STR., KYIV, 01001, UKRAINE

SWIFT CODE/BIC: PBANUA2X

CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT:

Beneficiary's bank account with the intermediary bank

36445343

INTERMEDIARY BANK:

Intermediary Bank:

Citibank N.A., NEW YORK, USA

SWIFT CODE/BIC: CITIUS33

IBAN:

UA963052990262036400933534924

EUR:

5168 7456 1052 0303

BENEFICIARY:

Beneficiary (Full name of the account holder in Latin and address)

KUDUSOV ERFAN, 01001, Ukraine, city Kyiv, street Mitropolita Andreia Sheptitskogo, building 3B, flat 57

ACCOUNT:

Account with the beneficiary's bank (plastic card number or current account with PRIVATBANK)

5168745610520303

BANK OF BENEFICIARY:

Beneficiary's bank

JSC CB PRIVATBANK, 1D HRUSHEVSKOHO STR., KYIV, 01001, UKRAINE

SWIFT CODE/BIC: PBANUA2X

CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT:

Beneficiary's bank account with the intermediary bank

623-160-5145

INTERMEDIARY BANK:

Intermediary Bank

J.P.MORGAN AG, FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY

SWIFT CODE/BIC: CHASDEFX

IBAN:

UA223052990262056400933535547

If you like this article, you can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL 97 1160 2202 0000 0002 1671 1123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail [email protected]