Images and videos emerged of two bridges destroyed inside Russian territory in what Ukrainian forces described as a strike on enemy munitions caches. It’s an indication that Ukraine’s military, when armed with US and NATO weapons, is inflicting heavy damage inside Russia and has also acquired a cutting-edge capability on the battlefield through the use of relatively cheap first-person-view (FPV) drones. The 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian military announced on Tuesday that it had “neutralized two command posts” in what is now known as Russia’s Belgorod region, a Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.

Photos and footage of two destroyed bridges on Russian territory in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border (58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian military/Ukrinform via AP)

The raid was carried out by units of the brigade, and targeted underground stockpiles of Russian mines and ammunition near the border with the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. “In Russia’s Belgorod region, not far from the Ukrainian border, there are two bridges,” the brigade wrote in a Telegram post on June 20, “under which weapons for their military are kept and one of them was used by the enemy for the concentration of manpower.”

In a statement to CNN, the brigade confirmed that it had used an FPV drone fitted with fiber optics to scout under the bridge where regular drones could not fly without losing signal, as well as to trigger a subsequent explosion. As a result, the small unit located a major stockpile of mines and ammunition under the bridge and ordered the drone to strike, obliterating both the supplies and the bridge itself. The 58th Brigade’s representative told CNN that “it became clear that something was going on there.” The Ukrainian brigade also claimed to have struck a second ammunition cache with a drone at a second bridge in a second successful raid.

The two structures were vital supply routes for Russian troops near the frontline, according to the Ukrainian military. Russian forces had mined the bridges and were apparently preparing them for demolition if necessary, in the event of a Ukrainian breakthrough. Ukraine previously destroyed bridges to halt Russian advances in the initial phases of its invasion. But now, in the second half of 2023, it appears that Kyiv is using the same tactic against Russia itself.

While FPV drones, popular with hobbyists in the West for racing and stunts, are a civilian technology, Russia has also used them in combat in Ukraine. In one particularly tense incident in 2022, FPV drones were used by Russia in a hybrid operation to cause major damage to military infrastructure at an oil depot in Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta. Ukraine now appears to be getting a taste of its own medicine.

An FPV drone with camera in hand as seen on a video of one of the raids (58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian military/Ukrinform via AP)

FPV drones with high-resolution cameras are usually controlled by hobbyists inside a virtual reality headset, hence their name. But they are cheap and increasingly prevalent in warfare, both in Ukraine and against Ukraine, allowing for low-cost surveillance, target acquisition, and even attacks as Ukraine’s military discovered. The Ukrainian army now has its own drones, mostly improvised by assembling commercial kits for hobbyists. They are often outfitted with camera pods by enthusiasts and volunteers. The ones used to target the bridges likely cost between 25,000 and 30,000 Ukrainian hryvnias each, which is about $600–$725.

Drones are also relatively disposable. It’s unclear if the Ukrainian drones were destroyed in the explosion that followed the triggering detonation, or by Russian forces in a scramble to locate and secure the bridge sites. But by all indications, the 58th Brigade had the first two easily accessible for reconnaissance before discovering and blowing up the munitions. The units drone cameras have been circulating on social media along with Ukrainian commentary. “We saw the mines and we struck,” the representative said in a statement to CNN.

By comparison, if Ukrainian forces were to use guided munitions or even unguided rockets from an HIMARS to strike these same targets, the munitions themselves and the actual HIMARS launchers would likely be much more expensive, as much as by several orders of magnitude. One HIMARS Multiple Launch Rocket System launcher costs in the millions, with single rockets typically in the tens of thousands of dollars. So long as Western and NATO supplies of advanced weapons continue to trickle into Ukraine, however, it is possible that they will continue to be destroyed in exchange for cheap, less-advanced munitions like drones. It is far from the only instance in which Ukraine has made such a favorable trade.

The U.S. and its NATO allies have repeatedly shared data with Ukraine about Russia’s airfield locations in the hope of closing Russian advantages, which Kyiv in turn used with FPV drones smuggled in from neighboring countries to disrupt the Russian military in what Ukrainian authorities described as “massive success.” Drones have also been effective in such incidents as when, in one raid on a Russian airfield in Rostov, Russian forces lost up to 100 aircraft and helicopters. “The value of these drones cannot be overstated,” said the 58th Brigade’s representative. The drones “allow us to achieve results that would otherwise require weapons that we do not have.”

It’s not a perfect day for Ukraine, as it still has to deal with a grinding offensive in the east and Russia’s relentless strikes on its cities. And in a speech on Tuesday, Putin rejected any ceasefire for now and reiterated his threat of an escalation in response to Ukrainian and Western military assistance. But in the short term, those two bridges in Belgorod are another sign of just how much difficulty Ukraine can cause Russia and how creatively it can strike.