Dozens of FPV Drones Disguised as Landmines Found on a Road in Donbas

A video has gone viral showing a road in Donetsk Oblast lined with dozens of drones arranged like a minefield. The footage first appeared on a Russian Telegram channel before being picked up and shared by Ukrainian and foreign accounts on X and Reddit.

The author of the post, a Telegram channel called "Mikhalych," claims that dozens of such drones — as many as a hundred per kilometer — have been placed along a short stretch of road. The exact number of devices and the circumstances of their deployment cannot be independently verified.

Where the Footage Was Filmed

According to an OSINT analyst on X, the footage was recorded on a road near the village of Novoshakhove in Donetsk Oblast — an area that has seen intense fighting in recent days.

Not Mines, But a Battery-Powered Ambush

This is an example of one of modern warfare's newer tactics — so-called "waiting" FPV drones. They look like ordinary landmines but function differently: the devices conserve battery power and stay dormant until the enemy draws near. At that moment, operators launch them into the air to strike. Reports from the front line indicate that both sides of the conflict use this tactic.

Based on the footage, in this case the strike on the drones was carried out by the Russian side — using its own drone, which attacked the equipment with an incendiary thermite mixture.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz