According to US media reports, recently, Ukrainian soldiers often cut and broke all optical cables of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) they encounter on the battlefield - regardless of which side they belong to.
Ukrainian soldiers said it is not important whether it is a UAV of their side or the enemy's. If they are not sure, they will default to considering it a hostile target.
Mr. Dimko Zhluktenko - an analyst of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Force - said that he always carries scissors so that he can "cut every fiber optic cable we see".
Mr. Zhluktenko also told his unit that "in reality, there is no longer a distinction between us or the enemy. We consider them all to be enemy UAVs", in the context that this type of UAV "cannot cause interference" is becoming increasingly popular. As a result, forests and trenches are entangled with cables - both abandoned cables and still operating cables.
Sharing in a YouTube video about personal equipment, Mr. Zhluktenko said that scissors became so essential that when the unit operated in areas densely covered with fiber optic cables, each member was required to carry a pair of scissors.
An unnamed Ukrainian soldier described the battlefield as having too many cables to the point of "not knowing if it was new or old fibers that had been there for a long time". Therefore, his unit tried to cut any fiber they found.
Another Ukrainian soldier of Border Guard Mobile Team No. 15 Steel Border also confirmed that using scissors is a reliable way to neutralize Russian UAVs. Russia is also said to be applying a similar approach.
Soldiers from the Iron Border team continued to share that another way to stop an operating fiber optic UAV is to shoot it down directly. Hunting rifles are considered the most effective tool, but this method not only requires skills but also luck.
Optical cable UAVs are a relatively new element in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and have never been deployed on such a large scale before.
The fact that they can be disabled with simple tools such as scissors, knives or bare hands reflects a broader trend in Ukraine: High-tech systems are often coped with with low-tech solutions.
