Overview
- Anatolii Prokhorenko, 12, in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region grabbed the hair‑thin fiber‑optic line behind a Russian quadcopter and snapped it, sending the drone into nearby marshland away from children.
- He used a trick a local soldier known as Dynamo had shown him, which involves looping and pinching the line after the drone passes so the operator cannot see you.
- Russia now flies many small drones with fiber‑optic tethers that unspool for about 12 miles and carry video and commands by wire, which defeats radio jammers.
- A UN human rights commission reported in April 2025 that these strikes were killing about 42 civilians a month and injuring nearly 300, and investigators said Moscow ordered the campaign to terrorize civilians.
- The boy was praised in Ukraine but faced threats on Russian Telegram, and his family moved to a borrowed flat in Chernihiv as nearby strikes continue, including a neighbor injured when a drone hit her car on Sunday.