Across the country, Ukrainians have launched ground-breaking initiatives to support and even arm the Ukrainian military against Russia, following the invasion of President Putin’s significantly larger army in February. A new and unusual one has just been released by engineer and PhD student Maksym Sheremet and his organization ‘Drone Lab’. His group of volunteers has set up trash cans outside the campuses and dormitories of Kyiv Polytechnic University, where Sheremet studies and teaches, to collect single-use e-cigarettes and recover a precious commodity inside them: lithium polymer batteries. The batteries are used to power release systems attached to drones so they can carry and drop anything from medical supplies to grenades. The delivery systems are manufactured using 3D printers. “We started collecting e-cigarettes after the price of lithium batteries really went up a month ago,” the 26-year-old tells the Independent from his workshop, which was filled with half-built drones and 3D printers in an undisclosed location in the capital. . Since the country was forced to close its airports at the beginning of the war, imported goods became increasingly difficult to buy and so expensive. “Lithium batteries used to cost $1 each, but they increased fivefold, increasing our costs significantly,” says Sheremet. “So we started powering drop systems from the batteries in disposable e-cigarettes. It’s free, easy to reuse and environmentally friendly because we recycle.” A team of about 60 volunteers builds the drone systems, with 30 working specifically on the e-cigarette project. In four months they built 4,000 drop systems – which cost less than $30 – and shipped them to the front. They also build drones from scratch and retrofit existing commercial drones to fit their launch systems. Three weeks ago they started working with electronic cigarette batteries. “In the last 20 days, we’ve built 100 drone drop systems using e-cigarette batteries and we have 100 more in progress,” the engineer continues, holding up a drone they built that has a thermal camera on it. “We have 2,000 orders in the works.” He says it was his way of contributing to the war effort. Sheremet’s team also builds drones like this one that can carry two grenades (Bel Tru) “There are people who want to help and don’t know how to shoot a rifle. Our brain is our weapon,” continues the engineer. “We have students, engineers, volunteer programs… it’s very easy to stick these things, it’s not hard work.” The Ukrainian military has repeatedly begged Western powers for arms as it has run out of ammunition and weapons, while Russia has mounted a ferocious offensive that is now focused on the east of the country. In June, Ukrainian military intelligence officials claimed that Russia has up to 15 times more artillery than Ukraine, meaning it is seriously outgunned. As such, drones have become critical in combat, allowing Ukrainian forces to locate artillery and thus direct fire effectively, conserving ammunition. Some of the drones can also drop anything from anti-personnel grenades to small bombs or medical supplies to soldiers in trouble. There are people who want to help [the war effort] but i don’t know how to shoot. Our brain is our weapon Maksym Sheremet, engineer at Drone Lab At the start of the war, Ukraine’s defense ministry urged drone owners to hand over their machines to the military. On Friday, Ukrainian media reported that the military had launched another drone drive: a fundraising project to jointly source or co-finance the purchase of 200 Scout drones. “We work from donations and private investment so we don’t charge the military anything,” Sheremet continues. “There is no maximum weight on what drones can hold – it will depend on the size of the drone and the release.” The e-cigarette project has unexpected side benefits, he says, in that it helps with recycling and is safer than students just putting their devices away. Electronic cigarettes have powerful batteries that are designed to be recharged. Disposable devices do not have USB charging points and so are sometimes discarded after a single use. Maksym Sheremet welds a release device for a drone using a battery from an electronic cigarette (Bel Tru) This, says Sheremet, is a colossal waste. It also poses a risk to waste and recycling workers: there are even calls in countries such as the United States for better legislation to manage the devices amid reports of e-cigarettes and their batteries catching fire or they even explode. Sheremet and his team have set up collection points throughout the university. They recycle the plastic vapor casing, repair and recharge the batteries and place them in recharging cases so they can be used again and again. In the lab he shows how easy it is to remove the battery, glue the mechanism and connect it to a board. “You can’t put e-cigarettes in the trash because of the lithium battery, it’s a serious fire hazard and terrible for the environment,” he concludes as his team are busy behind him. “So our plan has military, environmental and security benefits.”
