Drones can be stopped by nets that entangle their propellers, halting them in their tracks before they can reach their targets
Marc Bennetts
August 6, 2025
The Times
The road in northern Ukraine was covered from above and on both sides with thick netting that stretched for miles, towards Russia. It was just one of a number of anti-drone “tunnels” that Ukraine is constructing to protect soldiers and civilians in frontline regions. The netting is a low-tech solution to the first-person-view [FPV] drones that have transformed the nature of the war in Ukraine and, perhaps, warfare itself.
Cheap FPV drones packed with explosives are manned remotely by pilots and provide real-time video feeds, allowing them to be directed with deadly accuracy against soldiers, as well as military vehicles and equipment. They are used by both Russian and Ukrainian forces and have created a vast “kill zone” where nothing can move without attracting the attention of swarms of kamikaze drones.
Russia is now using FPV drones connected by thin threads of fibre-optic cables that wind for miles like tendrils. It is impossible to jam such drones because their pilots do not use electronic signals to control them. They can, however, be stopped by cheap nets that entangle the drone’s propellers, halting them in their tracks before they can reach their targets.
Ukraine is now building drone tunnels “across the entire frontline, from east to south,” Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Kravchuk, the head of communications for the Ukrainian Army’s engineering forces, said. “Even if the netting does not provide a 100 per cent guarantee, it significantly complicates the enemy’s task because more drones have to be spent on one target,” he told Ukrainian media.
Although Ukraine is staying tight-lipped about the details of the netting, some of the tunnels have been built using old nets that were donated by fisherman from Europe. “All kinds of nets are extremely useful. Ukrainians are resourceful and find a use for every net we can get to them,” Bernard Christensen, a member of a Polish-Ukrainian aid organisation, told Swedish media.
Danish fishing nets that were banned from UK waters after Brexit are reported to have made up a significant share of the country’s donations, which are worth an estimated €2.5 million.
On a road near Sumy, a besieged Ukrainian city that is just 20 miles from the Russian border, soldiers unspooled huge rolls of plastic netting before attaching it to 4m-high wooden poles that had been erected at regular intervals along the road. “Right now, this has proven to be very efficient against FPV drones,” said Andriy, the commander of the military construction crew
working in temperatures of over 30C. “Larger drones will tear through, of course, but it can still hold them back a bit.” “It’s easier psychologically for soldiers when they drive through such tunnels,” said Volodymyr, who was armed with a rifle to shoot down any Russian drones that might attack while construction is under way.
“So far, they haven’t attacked here, but elsewhere we’ve needed to open fire to defend ourselves. We can hear them sometimes, though,” he said, referring to the distinctive electronic buzzing that can be heard as the drones approach.
Russian forces entered the Sumy region this year after expelling Ukrainian troops from most of the neighbouring Kursk region in western Russia. President Putin has said that Moscow aims to create a “buffer zone” in the region as part of its summer offensive. His troops hold about a dozen villages in the border region, although Ukraine has had some success in halting their advance.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian special forces said they had killed over 300 Russian soldiers in an attack that disrupted Moscow’s supply lines in the region.
Another drone tunnel has been constructed in the Donetsk region, on the road close to the war-shattered town of Dobropillia, seven miles from Russian forces, where officials last week ordered families and children to evacuate.
Some Ukrainian military vehicles have also been fitted with netting, as well as protective metal cages that shield them against Russia’s relentless drone attacks, while also making them look like props from the Mad Max movie series.
Russian forces began using netting in 2023, although on a limited scale. Last year, the Tass news agency in Moscow said the Kremlin’s troops had built drone tunnels in northeastern Ukraine. “We weave nets like spiders! For extremely dangerous birds without feathers,” the Russian defence ministry quoted one of its soldiers as saying in April.
Yet netting cannot protect cities. In Sumy, Russian drones have targeted the main administration building on the central square in recent weeks. The building was attacked twice overnight on July 25, while there were another two strikes the next day.
One of the attacks was captured on camera and shows a huge ball of flame erupting from the building as a drone smashes into one of its upper floors. Most staff work from home, owing to the proximity of Russian troops, and there were no injuries. On a visit to the near-deserted building, The Times saw no evidence of military infrastructure. “This is an attempt to demoralise us,” said Volodymyr Babich, the deputy head of the Sumy region, as he stood in a shattered office. A tattoo on his right arm read, “I am living on my own land.” A part of the Russian drone that had caused the damage lay on the floor amid the destruction. The day after our visit, another drone slammed into the building, injuring a passer-by.
Besides drones, the city, with a prewar population of 250,000, has been pounded by Russian ballistic missiles, Grad rockets and powerful guided aerial bombs. In April, 35 people, including
two children, were killed when two Russian ballistic missiles hit the city as people attended Palm Sunday church services.
Babich said 153 people, including five children, had been killed so far this year in the city by Russian strikes, a number that is higher than the death toll for all of last year. “This is a terrifying tendency,” he said. Two more people were killed in the days after he spoke.
Despite President Trump’s deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire by Friday or face fresh US sanctions, there are few people in Ukraine who believe that Moscow will back down. For Sumy, its proximity to Russia means it will never feel entirely secure again, even when the war does end. As in Kharkiv, another city close to the Russian border, Sumy is already building underground schools to keep children safe from missile attacks. “We must become a fortress city,” Babich said. “Even if, God willing, peace comes someday, we can never discount the possibility [of a new invasion]. Life here will probably never be the same as before.”
Despite the dangers, locals are attempting to carry on with their lives. On a sunny afternoon, people swam and sunbathed on a riverbank in the centre of Sumy, while nearby cafés did a roaring trade. “I’m worried about my kids, of course,” said Olexandra, as she relaxed with her children. “But everywhere in Ukraine is dangerous now. This is our reality.”
Marc Bennetts has been covering Russia and the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, for The Times and Sunday Times since 2015. He has reported from all across Russia, from Chechnya to deepest Siberia. He has also reported from Iran and North Korea. Marc is the author of two books: I’m Going to Ruin Their Lives, about Putin’s crackdown on the opposition, and Football Dynamo, about Russian football culture. He is now writing a thriller, set during the polar night in Russia’s far north.