UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Feb 13 — For the last two months, on Kharkiv axis, the Russian army has been actively using fiber-optic drones that can only be shot down by firearms, said Oleksandr Danylenko, head of the press service for Hart brigade of Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, in an interview with Suspilne, Ukrainian media, on Feb 12. 

“It’s a very problematic thing for us: [a fiber-optic drone] evades EW because it doesn’t work on radio frequencies but uses the wire [to connect to the base — ed.]. You can only shoot it down. But before that, you have to control the sky — by ear and visually. Once you relaxed, you’re looking up — and there’s a drone,” Danylenko says. 

Like the usual first-person view drones (FVP), such drones transmit images or video back to the “base” but use a thin optic wire connected to an operator’s controller to do so, making EW inefficient. Various reports say Russia started using such drones in the east of Ukraine either in the summer or spring of 2024, responding to the rise in electronic warfare used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

Ukraine also produces fiber-optic drones to take advantage of their ability to avoid jamming. The first prototypes were developed back in 2022, but “did not attract interest at the time,” according to Serhii Beskrestnov, call sign Flash, military technology expert.

Russia’s second ground offensive in the north of Kharkiv Oblast began in May 2024, with them launching two assaults in the directions of Vovchansk and Lyptsi. Ukrainian troops stopped their advance within a month, and combat continues there to this day.

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