Power Outages Are Possible: Russia Has Found a Way to Bypass the Security Measures at Ukrainian Power Substations

Russian troops have begun using fiber-optic-controlled FPV drones to attack high-voltage substations in Ukraine, bypassing existing protective structures. 

According to the agency, these drones do not rely on radio signals and are therefore resistant to electronic warfare measures. This allows them to penetrate critical elements of the energy infrastructure, particularly autotransformers.

The Center for Information Resilience (CIR) has confirmed at least four strikes on protected 330 kV substations and several more attacks on 110 kV substations. According to CIR researcher Joshua Skriven, the Russian military uses the first drone to damage the protective mesh and then directs the second drone through the resulting opening toward the equipment.

Experts believe that such attacks are part of a strategy to cut off power to Ukraine’s border regions and increase pressure on the civilian population. According to Oleksandr Kharchenko, head of the Center for Energy Research, a single autotransformer at a 330 kV substation costs about $3.5 million, while an FPV drone equipped with fiber-optic cables costs approximately $2,000.

Source: Reuters.