8 April 2026
Ukrainian forces used heavy British Malloy T-150 drones to destroy a bridge over the Konka River last year.
The Telegraph reported details of the operation in March 2025 in the Kherson region.
A two-month campaign involving numerous sorties by the heavy transport drone played a crucial role in the operation.
The mission was carried out early last year. The Konka Bridge in the area of the occupied town of Oleshky was a critical target.
Ukrainian forces control the right bank of the Dnipro, the Antonivsky Bridge, and the left bank up to the Konka Bridge and the Konka River, beyond which lies the occupied city of Oleshky.
For several months, Ukrainian forces attempted to destroy it with airstrikes and missiles from the American HIMARS system, but without success.
Eventually, the command in Kyiv handed this task over to the 426th Marine Unmanned Systems Regiment of Ukraine.
“Bridges are relatively easy to destroy from below,” said the regiment commander. “But they are designed to be extremely sturdy from the outside.”
He assigned this task to the regiment’s internal research and development unit, led by a lieutenant with the call sign “Journalist.”
Malloy was chosen
The United Kingdom delivered a batch of Malloy heavy drones to Ukraine back in 2023. These drones can carry a payload of up to 180 kg over a distance of 70 km.
The Malloy T-150, manufactured by Malloy Aeronautics—a subsidiary of British defense giant BAE Systems—was not originally intended as a weapon.
Malloy T-150 drone. Photo credits: malloyaeronautics.com
It was created by New Zealand inventor Chris Malloy as a “flying motorcycle” for herding livestock in the Australian outback, but later evolved into a logistics drone for delivering cargo to the front lines.
However, on the Ukrainian battlefield, anything can be repurposed. The “Journalist” team created a 50-kg payload that could be lowered by cable to the most vulnerable points of the bridge.
“This is what we do,” said “Journalist.” “We take existing technologies and push them to the limits of what’s possible.”
The destroyed Konkivskyi Bridge. March 2025. Ukraine. Source: Telegram group “KHERSON Non Fake”.
The unit carried out 30 missions over 60 days, delivering 1.5 tons of explosives and seriously damaging the bridge’s structure. A final airstrike destroyed it completely.
I think it was Brian Whitmore who first observed that “Ukrainians know how to use their MacGyver skills to their maximum advantage.”
This is a perfect example.
It’s partly a technique forced upon them in their truly epic existential struggle against a satanic power and also because Ukrainians were already known for this high value capability.