In the scorched earth of Ukraine, birds build nests with fiber optic cable left by drones

Suicide fiber-optic drones in Ukraine have covered the land with fiberglass. Birds now use the remains to build nests.

Ultra-thin fiberglass cable spools, 5-20 km long, unwind as the drone flies and are used for the drone's primary guidance and control system. This makes the weapon immune to interference, and such drones are hard to detect. But once their mission is done, the long trails of tangled fiberglass remain in the environment.

The 12th Special Forces Brigade “Azov” of the National Guard of Ukraine shared a photo on the official Telegram channel of an abandoned bird nest, which was primarily made from this non-biodegradable material.

“Nature’s adaptation to war. Birds were the first to use the remains of fiber optics for their own needs before humans,” the translation of the post on Telegram reads.

“The birds mixed natural and artificial materials. This is just one of dozens of manifestations of how nature survives in the flames of war. Among hundreds of drones, assaults, shelling, and kilometers of scorched earth.”

The abandoned nest was found by soldiers of the support battalion in the Torets direction.

Ukrainian media, ukranews.com, reports that fiber optic cables now cover the ground in large quantities. The appearance of fiber-optic unmanned aerial vehicles created a “serious problem” for Ukraine’s defenders, as these drones are capable of flying in bunkers or under vehicles.

In April 2024, the Ukrainian Defense Forces reportedly struck the only Russian factory producing such cables.