On the Ukrainian front, the drone war continues to innovate. Latest spectacular operation to date: the release of three captured Ukrainian soldiers, carried out not by a commando, but by a squadron of drones operated at a distance. A video, broadcast by the Ukrainian border guards, shows this unimaginable mission a few years ago.
The facts take place in the Soumy region, in the northeast of Ukraine. According to the official press release, recognition drone operators have spotted a group of Russian soldiers escorting three Ukrainian prisoners through a sparse forest. Thanks to thermal imagery, they were able to follow the group movements, despite the spring foliage which prevents good visibility, explains an article in the online magazine forbes.
The rest of the operation requested millimeter coordination on the part of the pilots: several Mavic type drones, modified to drop grenades, are deployed in the area. Guided by recognition drones, they manage to target the Russian soldiers with formidable precision. Six grenades are dropped, forcing the kidnappers to flee and leaving the prisoners free to escape. In the confusion, the captives take the escaper powder, guided by the light signals of another drone which leads them to a wooden bridge, direction the Ukrainian lines.
Operators from the 1st tank Brigade Freed Three Ukrainian Soldiers from captivity using drones. First, they Separated the Prisoners from the Russian with air drops, then moved them to safe positions, While the Russians Were Destroyed. pic.twitter.com/tvswzyadrb
– Christmas 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@noelreports) April 28, 2025
If the video, skillfully mounted, has everything in the ideal scenario for Ukrainian military communication, it remains a striking example of the evolution of the close combat in the era of drones. The mission, led by at least four drones of three different types, mobilized two distinct units and testifies to a high level of coordination and improvisation.
The Russians, always helpless in the face of drones
This high-tech rescue highlights the persistent vulnerability of Russian forces against Ukrainian drones. The soldiers filmed to flee the releases of grenades do not even try to shoot down the machines that harass them. For their defense, it is true that spending a small drone with an automatic weapon is a challenge: not only is the target difficult to reach, but shooting immediately exposes the soldier to a response.
Portable electronic countermeasures, such as “trench jammers”, are struggling to compete: their scope is limited to a hundred meters, well below the altitude of dropping of the bombers. As for anti-drone weapons at radio frequency, they remain rare, expensive and often ineffective, as evidenced by many sequences where drones are imperturbably their mission.
If anti -personnel drone strikes sometimes lack precision – it often takes several grenades to neutralize a target -, their ability to multiply outputs largely compensates for this defect. Some Ukrainian units claim that their devices can perform nearly 70 missions before being lost, and their precision now exceeds that of mortars or artillery on mobile targets.
This operation, as successful as it was, could have turned to drama: the summary executions of prisoners by the Russian forces are far from rare, and the slightest hesitation could have cost the captives. But this time, Ukrainian technology and coordination made the difference.
Ukraine openly placed on this technological revolution to compensate for its numerical inferiority and keep its soldiers as far as possible. Worthy of an action film, this rescue shows that modern war is now played as much in the air as in the field – and that, sometimes, technology can save lives.
