As the war between Ukraine and Russia continued, the Konka Bridge in the Kherson region fractured and collapsed in March 2025. This sturdy bridge was not damaged in many previous missile attacks. In the end, the Ukrainian army used heavy drones to drill into the bottom of the bridge and place explosives, successfully completing the destruction mission. (Picture taken from Telegram group "KHERSON Non Fake"
[Reporter Luo Tianbin/Reporting from Taipei] The Army completed four actual combat bridge blasting tests in Yunlin, Yilan, Hualien and Tainan this year. Army Commander General Lu Kunxiu announced that since each combat zone has completely collected blasting parameters and achieved phased goals, the training plan will be adjusted starting next year and no more individual bridge blasting missions will be carried out. At the same time, Lu Kunxiu also instructed that drones should be fully integrated into engineering training to improve the unit's combat effectiveness and battlefield survival rate. Observing the actual combat experience of the Ukraine-Russia war in recent years, the Ukrainian military has indeed repeatedly used suicide unmanned boats and drones carrying warheads to attack important bridges controlled by the Russian army, achieving very impressive results in both tactics and strategy.
In terms of unmanned boat operations, the most representative case occurred in July 2023. At that time, the Ukrainian Security Service and the Navy teamed up to dispatch a self-developed "Sea Baby" suicide drone boat loaded with up to 850 kilograms of high explosives, which traveled a long distance and accurately hit the piers of the Crimean Bridge. The attack successfully blew up the highway deck of the bridge and affected the railway structure. It disrupted traffic on this most important supply artery on the Russian army's southern line for several months, forcing the Russian army to use high-risk ferries and detours to transport heavy equipment by land. It also had to expend a large amount of air defense and naval forces to protect the bridge.
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On the 12th, the National Army's Fourth Combat Zone cooperated with the Tainan City Government's bridge reconstruction project, and the engineering troops conducted live ammunition blasting training on the Touqian River Bridge in Baihe District. (Provided by the Fourth Combat Zone)
As for the drone blowing up the bridge, it shows another innovative way of playing. Generally, small first-person perspective drones carry only a few kilograms of bombs, and it is difficult to blow up a solid reinforced concrete bridge in one go. However, in early 2025, the Ukrainian 426th Unmanned Systems Regiment adopted the "ant moving" tactic against a Russian-controlled bridge in the Kherson-occupied area. The Ukrainian army used heavy-duty drones to launch 30 missions in 60 days, dropping a total of 1.5 tons of explosives on the structural weaknesses of the bridge. Finally, it cooperated with missiles to blow up the entire bridge in one fell swoop. It set a record for the first time in the history of human war that a large bridge was completely destroyed by a drone system. It successfully cut off the Russian supply line even though air strikes and rockets failed to destroy it.
Retired generals pointed out today that the reason why Ukraine uses unmanned boats and drones to blow up bridges is because the target is located in the area occupied by the Russian army. Engineers cannot get close to it and can only rely on long-range unmanned vehicles to forcibly break through. The Chinese army engineers are practicing preventive damage to bridges in our control areas during wartime. They can directly drill holes and load explosives in the most vulnerable parts of the bridge piers. The efficiency and destructive power are much higher than external impacts.
Generals analyzed that the core of this type of interdiction operation lies in mastering the precise amount of explosives and structural weaknesses. After the national army collected measured data through four actual combat blasts this year, there is indeed no need to repeatedly bomb the bridge every year. The Army will next fully integrate drones with the engineering profession. In the future, they will not only be used for battlefield reconnaissance and damage assessment, but also for long-distance precision blasting under the threat of enemy fire. This coincides with the trend of modern combat shown in the Ukraine-Russia war.
