Russia’s fibre-optic drones are increasingly targeting Ukrainian power infrastructure, raising concerns over evolving battlefield tactics and energy security.
Kyiv
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure by deploying fibre-optic controlled drones capable of bypassing traditional electronic defence systems, according to open-source investigators and verified visual evidence. The latest strikes have primarily targeted high-voltage electricity substations in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, highlighting a significant shift in the tactics being used to disrupt the country’s power supply.
Investigators from the London-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) verified multiple videos posted on Russian social media channels showing attacks on critical energy facilities. The authenticity of the footage has also been confirmed by Reuters. Analysts believe the strikes demonstrate the growing sophistication of small First Person View (FPV) drones equipped with fibre-optic cables instead of conventional radio communication systems.
Unlike standard drones, fibre-optic FPV drones are immune to electronic jamming because they remain connected to their operators through thin optical cables rather than wireless signals. Ukraine has invested heavily in electronic warfare systems designed to disrupt drone communications, but these newer drones can continue operating effectively unless their cables are physically severed.
According to Joshua Scriven, an investigator with the Centre for Information Resilience, Russian forces have developed methods to overcome protective barriers surrounding critical energy infrastructure. In several cases, one drone is reportedly used to tear openings in anti-drone nets before a second drone flies through the gap to reach vulnerable equipment inside the facility.
Since May, investigators say these drones have also been navigating around large concrete protective structures built over transformers. They have reportedly entered through ventilation openings to strike autotransformers, which are among the most critical and expensive components of high-voltage substations.
Oleksandr Kharchenko, head of the Energy Research Centre in Kyiv, said destroying a single autotransformer at a 330-kilovolt substation can disable the entire transformer unit. Each such autotransformer is estimated to be worth approximately 3.5 million dollars, making the attacks both economically damaging and strategically significant.
The Centre for Information Resilience has verified four attacks on heavily protected 330-kilovolt substations and at least four additional strikes on smaller 110-kilovolt facilities. The targeted high-voltage substations were located between 16 and 26 kilometres from the frontline, indicating that the operational range of fibre-optic drones has expanded considerably.
Analysts believe the relatively low cost of these drones, estimated at around 2,000 dollars each, makes them an extremely effective weapon against expensive energy infrastructure. Scriven said the cost-benefit ratio strongly favours the attackers, particularly when compared with the millions of dollars required to replace damaged equipment. Experts also believe the strikes are part of a broader Russian strategy aimed at disconnecting Ukrainian regions from the national electricity grid before targeting local power generation facilities to cause widespread blackouts.