They sang in the same band. Drone warfare gave them whole new professions.

Vlad, pictured left, and Andriy, pictured right, serve in the VORON drone battalion of the 100th Mechanized Brigade. Andriy "Granat" Vlad and Andriy sang in the same quartet for 10 years, until the war in Ukraine began. They're now in the same drone unit, fighting in Donetsk. Vlad has risen to become a military commander, while Andriy manages social media for his battalion. Before Russia, Vlad and Andriy's battle was with COVID. The pandemic had blown a gaping hole in the incomes of the two singers, who'd performed for a decade in an a cappella quartet. The group was named Luciano — after their hometown, Lutsk, and the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti — and they played folk and classical music at weddings, birthdays, and corporate events. During lockdowns, the side jobs they relied on to stay afloat, like Vlad's restaurant work and Andriy's bartending, had disappeared as well.