On June 10, Russia deployed 315 drones and 7 missiles against Ukraine overnight in retaliation for the audacious drone operation dubbed “Spiderweb” that took out aircraft stationed at its military installations. Shortly after midnight, air raid sirens sounded throughout Kyiv, warning of an impending Russian assault.
There was extensive damage in seven of the 10 districts of the capital, resulting in 3 deaths and 13 injuries. Homes, vehicles, warehouses, high-rise structures, and medical institutions were left in flames.
“Today was one of the largest attacks on Kyiv. Russian missile and Shahed strikes drown out the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,” stated President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Another barrage of drones struck Odesa in the south where locals claimed they couldn’t recall a night with that many strikes. According to regional chief Oleh Kiper, the assault destroyed residential structures and a maternity hospital in the southern port of Odesa. The regional prosecutor’s office reported that nine individuals were hurt and two people were killed. Tymur Tkachenko, the regional head informed that another person lost his life in the Obolonskyi area of Kyiv.
The city was overrun with the sound of drones and explosions for hours. Moscow launched around 500 drones at Ukraine in the largest overnight drone assault of the war, the day before the new attack. The Russian assault continued unabated as drone attacks in the northeastern city of Kharkiv killed 3 individuals and injured 60.
According to Mayor Ihor Terekhov, the second largest city of the country, which is only 30 kilometers from the Russian border was hit hard by the 9-minute-long aerial raid early on 11th June, when 17 drones hit two residential districts. Oleh Syniehubov, the regional director of Kharkiv mentioned that 9 children between the ages of 2 and 15 were among the 60 people injured in the attacks.
Emergency personnel, city employees and volunteers had to labor through the night to save lives from burning buildings and restore vital services in the city, which has been attacked repeatedly in recent months, after the assault. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that its air defense systems had intercepted 40 of the 85 drones that Russia had launched overnight, including the strikes on Kharkiv.
Russian forces also targeted an energy complex in Mykolaiv and Kherson, two southern Ukrainian provinces, leaving them without electricity. A new wave of drone attacks on four city districts was reported early on 12th June by Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, including a drone that landed in a school courtyard and smashed windows.
This wave after wave of Russian drones started targeting Ukrainian cities in response to Ukraine’s drone attack of its own, ‘Spiderweb’. Ukraine targeted Russian fighter jets deep inside Russia using drones smuggled into Russia.
Drones have become a major factor in this war and both the countries are busy manufacturing or importing as many drones as they can as they may well turn out to be the decisive factor in this war. Among the drones, Fiber Optics drones have become particularly popular among the two armies.
Fiber optic drones changing the course of Ukraine-Russia war
Drones have played a key role in Russia-Ukraine conflict. Surveillance drones are sent to locate targets on the ground while the commanders monitor multiple banks of displays. Artillery or mortars are then used to destroy them once they are identified. Kamikaze or bomb-dropping type drones can rapidly close in on their targets to deliver a lethal blow.
The problem with these drones is that the enemy can electronically jam these drones. However, a recent addition to arsenals of both countries has proven to be extremely effective. These drones are Fiber-Optic. It is difficult to bring them down since there is no radio signal to jam or detect.
Both Russia and Ukraine are connecting several of their first-person view (FPV) drones to their commanders via fiber optic cables rather than using radio waves around the battlefield. This renders them immune to jamming and other electronic warfare techniques and minimizes the impact of terrain which can also impede radio control.
The majority of FPV attack drones depend on a radio connection to the operator, which could be a drawback as connection could be lost if it flies too low or behind a hill. Up to 75% of FPVs are also lost due to jamming. “Friendly fire” is more likely to cause losses than adversary electronic warfare. Many rely on jammers which provide only partial protection against FPVs.
The Russia-Ukraine war has seen the rise of fiber optic drones, which can penetrate enemy lines up to 20 kilometers and use high-resolution images to strike targets. These drones operate at low altitudes to avoid detection and interception and their cable range can reach as far as 20 kilometers.
The range of fiber optics drones continues to expand from the initial few kilometers. Drones with wire lengths of 10-15 kilometers are now common. There is potential for far larger ranges. According to recent reports, Ukrainian military used a fiber optics drone to strike targets 42 kilometers away.
A purported 50 kilometer fiber spool that weighs less than 4 kilograms was seen in a Russian video. It is excessive for many FPVs but appropriate for larger models with a lower bombload. Better fiber is expected to result in weight reduction and range expansion. Ambush attacks, in which the drone lands and waits for a target, are becoming progressively more common with fiber FPVs.
Why is fiber optic drone a game changer
Fiber optic drones often fly farther than the majority of conventional FPVs since they are fitted with ever-larger spools. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, declared that 46 per cent of Ukraine’s December 2024 strikes against Russian targets were executed by kamikaze drones, on 5th January.
Fiber optic drones can even hover by a road or track for a long time because they need less power to stay in communication over vast distances. These drones fly straight through windows and doors that are open as well as through roof gaps or holes. “These drones can fly up to 60 kilometers per hour, perform maneuvers, and within a range of 10 kilometers, the fiber does not break,” highlihgted Serhiy Beskrestnov of the Ukrainian military.
Areas that were previously secure from drone attacks can now be targeted because fiber-optic drones can fly low between buildings or across forests while carrying small payloads and maintaining signal strength. FPV drones are usually inexpensive quadcopters or comparable variants that are controlled in real time by the user wearing goggles.
According to studies, electronic warfare weapons have destroyed between 75 and 90 per cent of drones during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine by interfering with the radio link of the drone’s pilot. However, fiber optic drones transmit high-resolution video without the need of radio transmissions, making them imperceptible and immune to electronic warfare.
Unlike radio-controlled drones, these drones fly at low altitudes, avoiding obstructions and minimizing exposure to air defense fire. It leads to a secure connection by using a robust fiber optic spool that unravels while in flight. High-speed light signals are sent across the fiber optic line carrying the pilot’s commands and video data.
High-resolution camera-equipped reconnaissance drones provide a significant edge in locating hostile targets. Nevertheless, using fiber optic connections makes the drone heavier and shortens its range.
How fiber optic drone functions
Fiber drones is a concept DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) created for its Close Combat Lethal Recon drone in the early 2000s but never deployed. Fiber drones were first dispatched by the Russians just over a year ago, initially in limited quantities before they were used on a large scale.
The fiber optic drone employed in Ukraine is essentially just a variant of the conventional FPV drone, which has already revolutionized warfare. This often entails a quadcopter design on a frame made of carbon fiber, aluminum, or polymer, with electronics welded on the middle, a battery strapped to the top, and the munition strapped to the bottom just before taking off on a combat mission.
The communication between the drone and its pilot is where the difference lies. The majority of FPV drones use conventional analog or digital antennas to receive their control inputs and beam back video and keep a strong signal connection even while operating at long distances which is essential to engage and reach targets.
Ukrainian soldiers walk along a field covered in fiber-optic cable from FPV drones somewhere near the frontline. pic.twitter.com/TZpGWaj5eY
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) May 27, 2025
Signal booster drones are sometimes used together with the drone’s vertical antennae to do this, enabling the FPV to fly farther. However, the FPV is still constrained by the terrain’s radio horizon. EW (Electromagnetic or electronic warfare) devices of many sizes and forms, ranging from modest systems installed on cars to defend them against FPVs to larger and more potent units that can block an entire region from a distance.
A long spool of lightweight optical fiber is held in a big but relatively light cylinder that hangs beneath the drone, often between the frame and the munition. The spool slowly unwinds as the drone advances. This effectively turns the drone into a wire-guided precision weapon, similar to the US TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missiles developed during the Cold War.
Drone pilots can rely on a flawless visual feed all the way up to the target when using fiber optics, as long as it isn’t damaged or severed in mid-flight, without concerns about radio horizon and electronic warfare. Both Ukraine and Russia made significant investments in pricey EW systems, particularly in 2024, to defend vehicles and other valuable targets, but these new drones left them ineffective.
The same is true with radio-based drone detection equipment that units frequently utilize to alert them to FPVs flying nearby. Fiber optic also enables FPV drones to fly to places they have never been able to, as both sides have shown on the battlefield.
Notably, Ukraine swiftly adopted the usage of fiber optic wires on the FPV drone after the Russians started using it in the spring of 2024. Aleksey Chadaev, a former Russian political professor who is now a volunteer, developed the Ushkuinik military technology accelerator project which produced the Knyaz Vandal Novgorodsky, the first fiber optic drone model to be scaled up to the front line.
The drone was initially used in Kursk Oblast in August 2024 and expanded as efforts to drive out the Ukrainians from Russian territory intensified. It proved to be extremely productive and in a short amount of time, especially when it came to narrowing down the already overburdened Ukrainian supply lines across the state border.
Ukrainian forces have given fiber optic drones to their most professional and well-equipped drone units. Meanwhile, Russia’s current superiority in the field is posing a significant threat to Ukrainian defense. Fiber-optic cable is being sought after by both nations.
A standard FPV drone can cost $400 without considering the cost of its explosive payload. However, the cable is an additional $400. The weight of ten kilometers of fiber optic cable, which is between 1.2 and 1.4 kilogram is bound to alter according to the drone’s movement. However, tens of thousands of pilots are available and eager to learn on both sides, as drones are already the main weapon on the evolving battlefield.
More FPVs would allow uncrewed vehicles to launch their own mini-Operation “Spiderweb” attacks.
