The AFU Blew Up Two Bridges In Russia
- 31.08.2025, 5:08
The Ukrainian military used mines that the Russians themselves had planted under the bridges.
Ukraine has blown up two key Russian bridges, using mines that the Russian military itself had stacked under the bridges to destroy them in case of an AFU offensive.
Ukrainian military officials have revealed how they destroyed two bridges on Russian territory near the border with Kharkiv region. The Russians used them to supply their troops. The video appeared several days ago, but details of the daring operation the Ukrainian military revealed only now, writes CNN.
Because of their strategic importance, the bridges were booby-trapped in the Russian Federation so that the Russian military would have the ability to blow them up in the event of a surprise Ukrainian offensive.
It is not uncommon for an army under attack to destroy bridges, roads and other key infrastructure on its territory to prevent the enemy from advancing. Ukraine did so in the early days of a full-scale invasion in February 2022, destroying bridges on roads leading to Kiev. The move delayed the Russian offensive and protected the Ukrainian capital.
In the case of the two bridges in Russia, the Ukrainian military learned of the caches of mines and used that to its advantage.
The 58th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of Ukraine, which conducted the operation, told CNN that they decided to take a closer look at the bridge after noticing unusual activity around it.
"It became clear that something was going on there. We couldn't launch a regular reconnaissance drone under the bridge because the signal would just disappear, so we flew in a first-person view drone equipped with a fiber-optic cable," a spokesman for the team said.
The video taken by the drone shows it approaching the bridge and revealing a large pile of anti-tank mines and other ammunition. A piece of camouflage netting can be seen nearby, which apparently covered the cache.
"We saw the mines and detonated them," they added.
The video cuts off abruptly when the drone crashes into the cache. Footage captured by a second camera from some distance away shows a powerful explosion. The journalists geolocated the bridge shown in the video: it is located in the Belgorod region of Russia, near the border with Ukraine.
"After that, we decided to check another bridge. We found that it was also mined, and we struck," the Ukrainian military said, adding that they "saw an opportunity and took it."
Russia has not commented on the attacks on the bridges.
A spokesman for the brigade said the drones used in the attack cost between $600 and $725. Which made blowing up the bridges an extremely cost-effective operation. Destroying a bridge from afar is no easy task. Under normal circumstances, it would require expensive guided munitions delivered by a sophisticated system such as a rocket launcher or an airplane.