- calendar_today September 1, 2025
In Ukraine, the destruction of two bridges deep inside Russia’s Belgorod region this week has provided a rare bright spot in the fight. The attack, which used low-cost drones to scout and strike the targets, has also shown how the proliferation of cheap, easy-to-use first-person-view (FPV) drones is increasingly changing the battlefield.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade revealed it had destroyed two bridges carrying supplies for Russian forces in the Belgorod region to the north of the Kharkiv region. Ukrainian forces used drones to scout under the bridges before launching a pair of FPV drones equipped with explosives to destroy them. The bridges were carrying Russian mines and ammunition hidden under the structures in caves. The Russian military had prepared the bridges for demolition in case of a Ukrainian advance.
“This way we saw the mines and immediately destroyed them,” a brigade representative told CNN.
“The Russian military personnel had mined both bridges on the left bank of the river,” the brigade said. “We destroyed the equipment before the occupiers had a chance to use them for the bridge demolition.”
The Ukrainian unit, which operates near the frontlines in the Kharkiv region, was prompted to destroy the bridges after one of its operatives spotted a suspicious movement under one of them. Suspecting that something unusual was going on, the unit sent a standard reconnaissance drone, only to find that it could not go under the bridge without losing the signal. The brigade’s specialists attached fiber optics to an FPV drone, which then successfully flew under the bridge and identified several tons of ammunition under it.
Video released by the 58th Brigade showed the small drone approaching the first bridge, where it spotted the ammunition before it self-destructed in a powerful explosion. A second camera placed near the explosion from a distance has recorded the event in the air. CNN geolocated the bridge to Russia’s Belgorod region. The region borders Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, which the unit is operating in.
The unit followed up the first successful strike by checking another bridge further down the road. That one also proved to be mined by Russian troops. This time, the unit used a second drone to destroy the ammunition. The second strike was also successful, resulting in another massive explosion.
“(We) saw an opportunity and took it,” the 58th Brigade said in a post.
The drones were remarkably low-cost, with each one priced between 25,000 and 30,000 Ukrainian hryvnias, or roughly $600–$725. In comparison, under normal circumstances, long-range, precision munitions, such as guided missiles or precision bombs, are needed to attack targets at such a distance.
For example, in a similar case last month, Ukraine used U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems to destroy infrastructure inside Russia’s Kursk region in response to Moscow’s missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. HIMARS launchers alone can cost several million dollars. Rockets are priced in tens of thousands apiece. In Belgorod, Ukraine’s 58th Brigade successfully attacked the Russian military targets with a drone valued at less than a smartphone.
The 58th Brigade said it considered using the HIMARS system to strike the ammunition under the bridges, but later decided to spare the expensive, Western-supplied munitions.
The use of low-cost drones has proved Ukraine is no stranger to innovative tactics. In June, Ukrainian forces used small, commercially available drones smuggled close to Russia’s military airfields to destroy or damage several dozen aircraft. The incident, which Moscow is still scrambling to explain to Russian society, shows how unmanned aerial vehicles have become a battlefield equalizer, making it much harder for Russia’s conventional military to defend its critical assets.
In particular, FPV drones smuggled by Russia’s neighbors or modified by volunteers with commercial parts have quickly become one of Ukraine’s most lethal weapons.
“This shows how modest technology can deliver outsized effects when used creatively,” military analyst Mykola Bielieskov told CNN.
The Belgorod attacks came as Ukraine is suffering a series of military setbacks on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have been grinding forward. Moscow has also upped the pace of its missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities, sometimes as often as several times a day, adding to civilian suffering and an energy crisis in Ukraine. In an ominous sign, Putin has also reportedly refused to consider a ceasefire until the Russian military achieved its objectives. Against this bleak background, news of two more bridges destroyed in Russia was a rare moment of good news for Kyiv.
Russia has not commented on the attack. However, they will likely have to travel longer distances to replenish the supplies of equipment and ammunition sent to troops operating near the Ukrainian border.
