The Lancet loitering munition has become a staple of Russia’s defensive and offensive aerial warfare
Russian drone operators have published footage of a successful interception of a Ukrainian naval suicide drone during an attack on the Crimean Bridge on Tuesday. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Local news reported that air defenses destroyed three aerial drones over the bridge in the early hours of Tuesday, but added that normal traffic resumed later in the day.
In a video released by the Telegram channel Russian Airborne, a Ukrainian unmanned naval drone can be seen speeding across the water. The view from above closes in as the Russian first-person-view (FPV) aerial drone dives down on the Ukrainian suicide vessel.
In later footage, taken from a second UAV, the Lancet can be seen impacting and disabling the Ukrainian naval drone, after which it coasts to a stop.
The Russian Transport Ministry reported that while the bridge had to be closed twice over the course of the day, normal traffic had resumed as of Tuesday evening.
In a statement, the SBU has claimed it had detonated some 1,100 kg of explosives around some of the structure’s underwater supports that had been placed there in advance.
According to local news sources, the more likely scenario was that Kiev attempted two waves of attacks with a combination of air, naval and undewater drones but was unable to inflict significant damage on the bridge.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow has not released an official statement on the incident.
Ukraine has repeatedly tried but failed to destroy the critical structure linking Crimea and mainland Russia since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. The bridge did sustain damage twice, in 2022 and 2023, in attacks that caused civilian casualties.
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