Ukraine destroyed two Russian bridges using a couple of cheap drones to hit mines that Moscow fighters hid underneath the resupply routes, officials said.
Intense footage from the drones flown by Ukraine’s 58th Motorized Brigade captured the moment the drones soar stealthily beneath the bridges in the Belgorod region to carry out the attack.
The drones buzz around before spotting a trove of mines hidden underneath the bridges, with one seeing the explosives tucked in a corner and the other having the bombs strapped onto the supports of the overpass.
Once the target is spotted, the drones charge into the mines, with a cut to the view of the whole bridge showing the devastating explosion as the structures go up in flames.
The bridges were destroyed on Aug. 23, with a representative from the 58th Motorized Brigade saying the operation was launched after soldiers in the area noticed unusual activity by the Russian invaders on the other side of the border.
“It became clear that something was going on there,” a representative of the brigade told CNN on Thursday.
“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,” the rep added.
The view made it clear that Russian soldiers were stashing loads of mines and ammunition beneath the bridges, making them the perfect target.
The drones used for the operations were relatively cheap UAVs armed with TM-62 anti-tank mines, according to local outlet Militarnyi.
Moscow has yet to comment on the bridge attacks in Belgorod.
The latest attack echoed previous drone strikes from Ukraine aimed at crippling Russia’s resupply routes, with Kyiv fighters destroying another bridge in Belgorod earlier this month, according to local reports.