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Russian war blogger Rybar said the drone attacks meant there was "no rear" to the front lines any more and that travelling on the logistics routes had become "a lottery".
Keir Giles, an expert in Russia's military and author of multiple books, told the ABC that Ukraine's technological advances were significant.
"It's one of the area in which Ukraine is demonstrating that it has, through long hard work, arrived at a situation where it holds an advantage," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-30/drones-make-russias-key-logistics-routes-highways-to-hell/106259606
This road was Russia's key logistics route but now it's a 'highway to hell'
Another Russian military vehicle is stopped in its tracks near Donetsk. (X: @99Dominik_)
Towering plumes of smoke and burnt-out vehicles are becoming an increasingly common sight on the highways of occupied Ukraine.
The Kremlin relies on these inter-city arteries, some of which are more than 100 kilometres behind the front lines, to get vital military and logistical supplies to its armed forces.
But lately, even Russia's famed war bloggers have conceded driving on these roads is now a dangerous "lottery".
Ukraine has developed AI-enabled drones capable of making precision strikes (like hitting a moving vehicle) from hundreds of kilometres away.
Now, military trucks and petrol tankers using this crucial land bridge between the Russian state and territory it occupies in southern Ukraine are being hit regularly.
The strikes have become so significant, some experts have declared the war that has been raging since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 has entered a new phase.
This Russian Ural military vehicle was struck by a drone around 100km behind the front lines. (X: @666_mancer)
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington DC-based non-partisan and not-for-profit organisation that tracks and assesses battlefield developments around the world, this week published a report that affirmed "Ukrainian forces are out-innovating Russian forces".
This ISW analysis asserted the war was now in "a new phase" defined by Ukraine's ability to disrupt Russian supply lines previously considered out of reach, among other things.
"Ukraine significantly intensified its intermediate-range strike campaign against dynamic targets in Spring 2026 in order to degrade Russian logistics at operational depths ahead of a planned Ukrainian manoeuvre," the report read.
It later noted: "Russian officials and milbloggers notably reported in mid-to-late May 2026 that Ukrainian drones were increasingly targeting Russian vehicles and logistics … at distances over 160km from the frontline."
The ISW has geolocated around three dozen attacks on vehicles on key highways behind the front lines, although anecdotal evidence suggests the number could be much higher.
The report concluded the war in Ukraine was "far from stalemated" — something at odds with the prevailing geo-political rhetoric that a Russian victory is inevitable or that neither country was capable of making a meaningful breakthrough.
Kateryna Stepanenko is the ISW's Russia team lead and co-authored the report.
She said Russia had once used the highways to rotate troops from the front lines, but that was becoming more difficult.
"It is a very significant accomplishment and technological advantage for Ukrainians as they're able to paralyse Russian forces before they're even able to reach the battlefield at distances of over 150 and 160 kilometres away," she told the ABC.
"It's no longer safe for Russian forces to operate in those areas.
