Ukraine has stated it destroyed two bridges inside Russia by using a few low-cost drones to hit stashes of mines and ammunition hidden there by Russian forces.
The Ukrainian navy stated the two bridges close to the border with Ukraine’s Kharkiv area have been being utilized by the Russian navy to resupply their troops.
Because of their strategic significance, the bridges have been mined – in order that the Russian navy had the choice of blowing them up in case of a sudden Ukrainian advance.
It shouldn’t be uncommon for a military underneath assault to destroy bridges, roads and different key infrastructure on its own territory to stop the enemy from advancing. Ukraine did this within the early days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, destroying bridges on roads main in direction of Kyiv. The transfer delayed the Russian advance and protected the Ukrainian capital.
In the case of the two bridges in Russia, the Ukrainian navy came upon concerning the stashes of mines and used it to its own benefit.
Ukraine’s 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, which carried out the operation, informed NCS that they determined have a better have a look at the bridge after noticing uncommon exercise round it.
“It became clear that something was going on there. We couldn’t fly a regular reconnaissance drone under the bridge because the signal would simply disappear, so we flew in with a first-person-view drone equipped with fiber optics,” a consultant of the brigade informed NCS.
A video filmed by the drone reveals it approaching the bridge and discovering a big pile of anti-tank mines and different ammunition. A chunk of cloth that seems to have been masking the stash is seen mendacity to the aspect.
“We saw the mines, and we struck,” they added.
The video ends abruptly when the drone hits the stash. Footage filmed by a second digicam from a long way reveals a big explosion. NCS has geolocated the bridge seen within the video to the Belgorod area in southern Russia, close to the border with Ukraine.
“After that, we decided to check the other bridge. We found it was also mined and we struck,” the brigade consultant stated, including: “(We) saw an opportunity and took it.”
The bridges’ destruction – and the daring manner Ukraine achieved it – is a uncommon piece of excellent information for Kyiv.
Ukraine is dealing with a tricky state of affairs alongside the frontlines as Russian troops proceed to inch ahead as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to delay any ceasefire talks.
At the identical time, Moscow retains terrorizing Ukraine’s civilian inhabitants with close to each day lethal aerial assaults in opposition to cities throughout the nation.
Russia didn’t touch upon the assaults in opposition to the bridges.
The drones used within the assault prices between 25,000 and 30,000 Ukrainian hryvnas, or between $600 to $725, the brigade consultant informed NCS.
That makes the two assaults extraordinarily cost-effective. Taking down a bridge from afar shouldn’t be a straightforward endeavor. Under regular circumstances, it could require costly guided munitions delivered by a classy system similar to a missile launcher or airplane.
Ukraine has beforehand stated it used the Western-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to blow up bridges in Russia’s Kursk area. These are dear weapons – when Germany bought three HIMARS launchers for Ukraine from the United States final yr, it paid $30 million in total. Each missile prices tens of 1000’s of {dollars}.
But the bridge assaults weren’t the primary time that Ukraine used small and comparatively low-cost first-person-view drones for max impact.
In June, Ukrainian forces destroyed or broken dozens of Russian plane using small drones that were smuggled to the vicinity of Russian military airfields in vans.