LUGANSK, August 24. /TASS/. During the Ukrainian occupation of Konstantinovka, Ukrainian armed forces’ unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators stationed themselves in residential areas, not even letting residents walk where they live, said Lyudmila and Andrey Khmelevsky, refugees from Konstantinovka.

"The drone operators (of the Ukrainian armed forces) are the vilest. They chose spots so that there would be civilians all around - civilians on all four sides. It’s when two burly thugs come out onto the street, set up a drone and just stand there watching. As soon as we step outside, wondering what they’re doing there, we see them launching drones, after which everything is destroyed in the homestead garden. Not only do they curse at you, they shoot at you too. So you go out like that, and they start asking: ‘Why haven’t you left? What are you doing here? What do you want?’ "I’m in my own yard. What are you doing in my yard?" the refugees recounted.

According to them, the Ukrainian armed forces set up four to five UAV launch sites in the residential area. Most often, they launched Baba-Yaga hexacopters.

Khmelevsky also noted that there were foreign mercenaries in Konstantinovka. "I took one look at him - it was clear he wasn’t Russian. But he had a yellow-red-blue chevron, I don’t remember exactly. And there was another one with him wearing an Afganka uniform. They were running around the village looking for a place to stay, to sleep, and to eat. But that was back in the fall," a refugee recounted.

Earlier it was reported that soldiers of the Russian Battlegroup South’s 78th Motorized Rifle Regiment Sever-Akhmat evacuated a group of 13 refugees from Konstantinovka.