Ukraine Is Using a Weapon From Dungeons and Dragons to Wreak Havoc on Russian Trucks

Videos posted to Russian and Ukrainian social media show that Ukraine has mated the breakout technology of small, low-cost quadcopter drones with a classic weapon of antiquity and the Middle Ages: spiky caltrops designed to be scattered in the path of enemy forces.

While Ukrainians had already been incorporating caltrops into trapped and/or fortified defensive areas, footage showed civilian-style quadcopter drones scattering thousands at night along vital roads in Russian-occupied territory used for resupply. The following day, wheeled vehicles immobilized by the tire-deflating caltrops became sitting ducks for subsequent air or artillery strikes. Even an immobilized vehicle that gets recovered is at least temporarily rendered unavailable and taxes maintenance capacity.

Perhaps the best indication that Ukraine’s caltrop tactic is proving effective is that Russian social media posts are complaining about it:

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