On a small road near Shostka (Sumy Oblast), in northeastern Ukraine, a small convoy of large vehicles parked in the middle of nowhere. Serhi Kostinsky switched his phone to airplane mode, exited his off-road vehicle and walked 200 meters to an unremarkable building. At 43 years old, this tall, blond, bearded man commands a drone company (about 100 military personnel) within the 104th Territorial Defense Brigade. Here lies the command center of the Serafimy company ("seraphim" in English), about 20 kilometers from the Russian border.
Here, the immediate danger comes from the sky. As the main industrial center for explosive and ammunition manufacturing in the country, Shostka has been targeted by massive air attacks. The Zvezda (gunpowder) and Impuls (detonators) factories were targeted several times in 2024, including by thirteen ballistic missiles on December 31, 2024. "Our main national ammunition production site has been annihilated," said Anton Serbin, an officer of the 104th Brigade. The city remains under vigilant enemy surveillance.
Neither the location nor the building occupied by the Serafimy should be described for security reasons. "Three months ago, we moved here after our former HQ was targeted by a Lancet [Russian drone] attack," said a military member of the 104th Brigade, who preferred to remain anonymous. "The Lancet [with an explosive charge of up to 12 kilograms] only destroyed cars, but we realized it was urgent to find another hideout." This is why the military avoids parking multiple vehicles in the same spot.
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