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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Ukraine blows up two key Russian bridges using Moscow’s own mines and | |
$600 drones | |
By Svitlana Vlasova, Ivana Kottasová, CNN | |
Updated: | |
10:03 AM EDT, Fri August 29, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Ukraine has said it destroyed two bridges inside Russia by using a | |
couple of cheap drones to hit stashes of mines and ammunition hidden | |
there by Russian forces. | |
The Ukrainian military said the two bridges near the border with | |
Ukraine’s Kharkiv region were being used by the Russian military to | |
resupply their troops. | |
Because of their strategic importance, the bridges were mined – so | |
that the Russian military had the option of blowing them up in case of | |
a sudden Ukrainian advance. | |
It is not unusual for an army under attack to destroy bridges, roads | |
and other key infrastructure on its own territory to prevent the enemy | |
from advancing. Ukraine did this in the early days of the full-scale | |
invasion in February 2022, destroying bridges on roads leading towards | |
Kyiv. The move delayed the Russian advance and protected the Ukrainian | |
capital. | |
In the case of the two bridges in Russia, the Ukrainian military found | |
out about the stashes of mines and used it to its own advantage. | |
Ukraine’s 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, which conducted | |
the operation, told CNN that they decided have a closer look at the | |
bridge after noticing unusual activity around 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 representative of the brigade told | |
CNN. | |
A video filmed by the drone shows it approaching the bridge and | |
discovering a large pile of anti-tank mines and other ammunition. A | |
piece of fabric that appears to have been covering the stash is seen | |
lying to the side. | |
“We saw the mines, and we struck,” they added. | |
The video ends abruptly when the drone hits the stash. Footage filmed | |
by a second camera from some distance shows a large explosion. CNN has | |
geolocated the bridge seen in the video to the Belgorod region in | |
southern Russia, near the border with Ukraine. | |
“After that, we decided to check the other bridge. We found it was | |
also mined and we struck,” the brigade representative said, adding: | |
“(We) saw an opportunity and took it.” | |
The bridges’ destruction – and the daring way Ukraine achieved it | |
– is a rare piece of good news for Kyiv. | |
Ukraine is facing a tough situation along the frontlines as Russian | |
troops continue to inch forward as Russian President Vladimir Putin | |
continues to delay any ceasefire talks. | |
At the same time, Moscow keeps terrorizing Ukraine’s civilian | |
population with near daily deadly aerial attacks against cities across | |
the country. | |
Russia did not comment on the attacks against the bridges. | |
Cheap drones prove their value | |
The drones used in the attack costs between 25,000 and 30,000 Ukrainian | |
hryvnas, or between $600 to $725, the brigade representative told CNN. | |
That makes the two attacks extremely cost-effective. Taking down a | |
bridge from afar is not an easy undertaking. Under normal | |
circumstances, it would require expensive guided munitions delivered by | |
a sophisticated system such as a missile launcher or plane. | |
Ukraine has previously said it used the Western-supplied High Mobility | |
Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to blow up bridges in Russia’s Kursk | |
region. These are pricey weapons – when Germany purchased three | |
HIMARS launchers for Ukraine from the United States last year, it paid | |
. Each missile costs tens of thousands of dollars. | |
But the bridge attacks were not the first time that Ukraine used small | |
and relatively cheap first-person-view drones for maximum effect. | |
In June, Ukrainian forces destroyed or damaged dozens of Russian | |
aircraft using in trucks. | |
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