At the end of April, Patrick Messmer, 41, gave up his life in Switzerland – and went to war. Out of conviction, as he says: “It’s clear to me that the Russians won’t stop in Ukraine if we don’t stop them. That’s why I left.”
In Switzerland, Patrick Messmer worked in a cheese factory. At the local shooting club, he sat on the board of directors and trained young people. Today, he drops homemade bombs from drones on Russian units. At night, he goes to the front line with two comrades, flies his drone over enemy positions – and drops grenades. Messmer kills people at the push of a button, from a safe distance. It’s brutal, but it doesn’t give him sleepless nights. “I don’t get any extreme feelings when I kill. It’s a bit like a video game.”
A new dimension of war
Drones have changed the way war is waged in Ukraine. Day and night, reconnaissance drones from both sides hover over the battlefield, observing the enemy. While at the beginning of the war, large military drones were mainly used, today small drones, such as those piloted by Patrick Messmer, dominate.
Instead of being worth millions, they cost only a few thousand or hundreds of dollars. This year alone, Ukraine ordered a million of them.
The war over the battlefield is also a war of electromagnetic waves. Both sides try to cut off communication between drones and pilots using jammers. Russia is considered the leader in this technique known as “jamming”. “This is our biggest problem,” says Patrick Messmer. “This causes us to lose drones over the target area.”
In the Foreign Legion
Patrick Messmer serves in the International Defense Legion of Ukraine, which was created after the Russian attack in 2022. Volunteers from different countries fight there.
According to reports, extremists or criminals have also been regularly integrated into the troops. Messmer’s commander, who calls himself Pasha, does not hide this from the SRF program Rundschau: “We have people who are fleeing prosecution in their home countries.” But most of them are said to have come to fight for the freedom of Ukraine. “I have a lot of respect for that.”
Prison sentence expected
In Switzerland, Patrick Messmer risks prison because of his commitment in Ukraine. Swiss nationals who perform military service abroad risk a fine or a prison sentence of up to three years. The military justice system is aware of his case. The opening of proceedings is currently under consideration, we learned on request.
Patrick Messmer is also the subject of criminal proceedings for suspicion of violating the weapons law. The sports shooter says he correctly declared his approximately 20 weapons in Switzerland. The Lucerne public prosecutor’s office, which is in charge of the case, does not wish to comment on the ongoing proceedings. The presumption of innocence applies.
Patrick Messmer wants to stay in Ukraine after the war. “When I retire, I might come back to Switzerland to serve my sentence.” He is not afraid that the war will end his life before that. “In our position, we are so far from the shooting that the risk is almost zero. And if a hover bomb hits me, too bad.”
This article is originally published on swissinfo.ch
