Earlier this month, Ukraine utilized cost-effective drones to demolish Russian mines placed beneath two bridges, capturing the powerful impact on video.
The Ukrainian military has verified the destruction of two bridges on August 23, located near the border of the Kharkiv region.
According to CNN, these bridges were strategically crucial for the Russian forces, acting as significant supply routes.
The 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of Ukraine confirmed to CNN that these bridges were heavily mined in anticipation of an enemy approach.
The Ukrainian forces seized the opportunity to attack the mines using drones. A brigade representative explained they recognized the chance to inflict substantial damage and proceeded accordingly.
Suspicious activity around the bridge led to the discovery of the mines, as clarified by the spokesperson.
“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,” they stated.
The dramatic video showcases drones moving towards the bridge, revealing a pile of explosives. The footage abruptly ends as a drone strikes the explosives.
Another video from a distance captures the massive explosion triggered by the drone impacting the concealed mines.
The attack utilized relatively inexpensive UAVs armed with TM-62 anti-tank mines, as reported by local source Militarnyi.
According to a CNN report, the brigade representative disclosed that the drones cost between 25,000 and 30,000 Ukrainian hryvnas, equivalent to $600-$725.
In the past, Ukraine’s military preferred using Western-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to destroy bridges in Russia’s Kursk region.
These systems are known for their high cost. For example, Germany paid $30 million for three HIMARS launchers from the United States for Ukraine, as reported by CNN.
Russia has not yet commented on the recent bridge destruction.
The demolition of these Russian bridges by Ukrainian forces follows a few months after the army targeted the 12-mile-long Kerch bridge.
In June, Ukraine’s SBU security service orchestrated a substantial underwater explosion targeting the crucial road and rail link connecting the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula to Russia, opened by Putin in 2018.
Traffic on the bridge resumed merely hours after the attack, according to BBC News.
This is not the first time Ukraine has targeted the bridge, having done so twice before in 2022 and 2023.
The recent Ukrainian actions escalate tensions around potential World War III scenarios, which were further inflamed by statements from US President Donald Trump earlier this week.
On Monday, August 25, Trump spoke to reporters about possibly renaming the Department of Defense.
He suggested it might be renamed the ‘Department of War,’ arguing that the current name is ‘too defensive’ while he works on mediating a ceasefire between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“On the Department of War, how do you plan to do that? It requires an act of Congress to rename the Defense Department…”
Trump replied: “We’re just going to do it. I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that… Defense is too defensive. We want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive, too if we have to be.”
Earlier this month, Trump met with Putin in Alaska.
Although no ceasefire was agreed upon, Trump expressed optimism, saying ‘we have a very good chance of getting there’.
Subsequently, he hosted European leaders, including Zelenskyy and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, at the White House in an effort to move peace discussions forward.