Rare Ukraine Footage May Show Moment US Switchblade Strikes Russian Buk

New footage appears to show a Switchblade drone targeting a Russian-made mobile medium-range air defense system in eastern Ukraine, in what may be a rare glimpse of the American-made loitering munitions in action.

On Telegram, the Ukrainian Come Back Alive foundation, which supports the country's military, posted a video that appears to show a reconnaissance drone locating a Russian Buk-M2 surface-to-air missile system launcher near the Donetsk city of Dokuchaievsk. The city lies in Russian-held territory east of the contested settlement of Vuhledar, the site of bitter clashes over the course of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The drone followed the missile system, the Ukrainian foundation said, before a U.S.-made Switchblade drone approached the Russian Buk-M2. The drone then appears to detonate, with smoke and flames visible around the equipment.

Videos posted online as far back as mid-2022 show Ukrainian troops using Switchblade drones to target Russian forces. Yet footage of the loitering munitions in action has been scarce compared to recordings of other equipment in use in Ukraine.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry and Come Back Alive for comment via email. We could not independently verify the clip.

The U.S. has provided several types of drones to Ukraine in military aid packages, including the Phoenix Ghost, CyberLux K8 and Switchblade drones—donating Switchblade 300 models and the larger 600 versions to the Ukrainian front line. The U.S. Defense Department has not specified how many Switchblade drones have been sent to Ukraine.

Wednesday, David Hambling, a journalist and military expert, told Newsweek: "We do not get to see footage of Switchblade 600 strikes for security reasons."

"There are very few videos even of the Switchblade 300, which has been in use for more than a decade," he added. "So videos claiming to show one always deserve extra scrutiny."

Hambling said the munition shown in the clip is slow-moving, "small and has no obvious wings," more akin to a multicopter kamikaze uncrewed vehicle than a Switchblade. The winged Switchblade 600 can reach more than 100 miles per hour when approaching a target, he added.

Charlie Dean, the vice president of global business development and marketing at the defense contractor AeroVironment, which manufactures the Switchblade, previously told Newsweek that the Switchblade 600 was "tremendously important to the defense of Ukraine."

While Ukraine previously used more of the Switchblade 300s, Dean said in October that the larger 600s were expected to overtake the earlier model.

Whichever munition was used to strike the Buk-M2, taking out an expensive Russian air defense asset with "a small drone is quite an achievement," Hambling said. "It also highlights just how ineffective such systems are against small drones."

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