At 03:44 local time, twelve Ukrainian AQ-400 Scythe drones launched from the Dnipro area and flew low along the Dnieper River toward the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Their mission was not aimed at the reactor core, but at Russian military positions and support infrastructure around the plant’s control perimeter.
What followed was a tense battle of radar, river clutter, decoys, electronic warfare, and last-second interception attempts. A Russian Pantsir-S1 detected the drone swarm at just 8 miles and launched a 57E6 missile, but the lead AQ-400 dropped to only 19 feet above the river, causing the missile to dive into the water and miss. Two drones were damaged by fragments, but the remaining UAVs scattered and pushed forward.
Russia then tried to stop them with cannon fire, a hidden Shmel-class armored patrol gunboat, a Ka-52 Alligator helicopter, jamming systems, anti-drone weapons, and rifle fire near the plant perimeter. But each defensive layer faced the same problem: small, low-flying drones moving through river clutter, terrain shadows, and tight engagement windows.
By the time the surviving AQ-400s reached the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant area, Russian forces could no longer fire freely without risking damage to the sensitive facility itself. Several drones entered the outer plant zone, striking near power unit number 1, damaging the External Radiation Monitoring Laboratory, and hitting a transport and logistics workshop.
The reactor core remained intact, but the attack showed something far more dangerous: autonomous Ukrainian drones are forcing Russia into impossible defensive choices around one of the most sensitive sites in the war. When combat reaches the fence of a nuclear power plant, every explosion becomes more than just an explosion.
00:00 - AQ-400 drones fly low over the Dnieper River 02:52 - Pantsir-S1 falls for a radar decoy 06:17 - Shmel gunboat waits in a deadly river bend 09:24 - 76 mm cannon fires, but drones break through 13:04 - Ka-52 helicopter struggles against tiny low targets 15:41 - Jamming fails against autonomous flight mode 18:56 - Zaporizhzhia’s outer perimeter is penetrated 21:51 - Five UAVs enter the nuclear plant area
