Innovative Ukrainian Operation Captures 250 Russian Soldiers Using Drones and Exploding Vehicles

Soldiers from Ukraine’s Third Army Corps prepare new vehicles for field use in a workshop in the Kharkiv region in May 2026.

A daring Ukrainian operation utilizing robots dropped behind enemy lines and “Trojan” armored personnel carriers laden with explosives has resulted in the capture of more than 250 Russian troops, Kyiv reports. Ukraine’s army has been chipping away at Russian-controlled territories in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas as part of a counteroffensive operation dubbed “Vivaldi,” providing a spark of optimism after a bleak few months.

A video shared by Ukraine’s Third Army Corps shows dozens of men walking through a forest in single file, closely guarded by Ukrainian captors who herd them into a tight formation for an improvised rollcall. Some of the Russian prisoners explained in the video that they surrendered because they didn't want to die in vain, describing eating bark and grass and drinking from puddles after running out of basic provisions. CNN cannot independently verify the video or Ukrainian claims, though prominent Russian military bloggers have lamented recent Ukrainian advances and demanded answers over command failures and supply shortages.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities, taking advantage of Kyiv’s critical shortages of air defense missiles. Operation Vivaldi has been defined by Ukraine’s innovative use of technology, including aerial and ground drones. According to Andriy Biletskyi, commander of the Third Army Corps, Ukrainian military forces airdropped robotic systems equipped with heavy guns more than 10 kilometers behind Russian lines during one assault operation. Controlled from secure command centers, these land drones attacked Russian troops from an unexpected direction.

In another innovation, the Third Army Corps converted old Soviet-era armored personnel carriers into unmanned kamikaze ground vehicles packed with explosives, referred to as “Trojan” tanks, and sent them toward Russian fortifications. These advancements helped shift the momentum in September, with the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) calculating that Operation Vivaldi allowed Ukraine to recapture nearly 150 square kilometers of territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported even higher gains, stating that 176 square kilometers had been recaptured and 5,000 Russian troops either wounded or killed since the operation began.

The losses have drawn concern from pro-Kremlin military bloggers like Rybar, who complained on Telegram about the deteriorating situation forcing Russian troops to reorganize logistics and adjust their advance on Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed at the Valdai Club in Moscow that Ukraine can withstand Russia's advances for only another 18-24 months. However, Operation Vivaldi has raised hopes in Kyiv that Moscow's advances remain slow and costly, with Western intelligence estimating Russia is losing some 40,000 troops a month.