For a war hero, Andrii Pokrasa seems shy, at least when he’s being interviewed on TV. But maybe that’s because Andrii is not used to talking to the media. After all, he’s only 15.

Many civilians have made important contributions to Ukraine’s fight against invading Russian forces, but most of them aren’t ninth graders. Andrii’s chance for glory came in the early days of the conflict, when a column of enemy tanks and other vehicles was approaching the small town where he lives with his parents, just to the west of Kyiv. Local Ukrainian forces knew that the Russian convoy was nearby, rumbling slowly down a major highway, but needed the precise location to launch an artillery strike.