Nets once used to protect tulips in the Netherlands are getting a new life: they protect Ukrainian soldiers and civilians from Russian drones.
The same goes for abandoned fishing nets and all kinds of mesh that can prevent a drone from reaching its target. Across Europe, farmers and fishermen are collecting such items in a bid to save lives thousands of miles away.
Russian drones target the Ukrainian army's supply routes and rear bases, often threatening to cut off units on the front lines. But they also hit hospitals and civilian traffic.
One area frequently subject to drone attacks is the southern city of Kherson and what Ukrainians call the “roads of life” that connect it to the outside world – roads that are protected from Russian attacks as much as possible.
“On average, the Russians launch about 2,500 drones into our communities every week. As a result of these attacks, 120 people have died in the Kherson region this year,” Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, deputy head of the Kherson military administration, told CNN in November.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said it had verified that 2,514 civilians were killed and 12,142 injured in conflict-related violence in 2025, many of them far from the front lines.
Over the past year, an increasing number of nets have been hung. The city's hospital courtyards, generators and shopping streets are now protected. On open roads, poles are used to provide a netting canopy.
“Work is underway to strengthen the roads – tens of kilometers of roads are already protected by nets,” Tolokonnikov said, explaining that a wide variety of nets have been tested for durability.
“Through a combination of bold measures and decisions, our military is now capable of destroying 80 to 95 percent of the drones the Russians launch into our communities.”
Tulips and tuna
The nets are trucked across Europe by various volunteer groups. One of the biggest – Life Guardians – is run by Klaas Pot in the Netherlands. His team has sent more than 8,000 tons of mosquito nets to Ukraine, he says, about half the total received.
Pot began by collecting nets to serve as camouflage for Ukrainian soldiers.
“I knew these nets had more potential, because they were already starting to use them for anti-drone purposes,” Pot told CNN.
“I know that, for example, the road between Kherson and Mykolaiv is particularly dangerous and they built a 'road of life' there,” he said, adding that at least part of that road is protected by the nets collected by his team.
Tulip nets are made from warp knitted polyethylene and are lightweight and durable. Normally, they cover the bulbs in the ground and are lifted mechanically to streamline harvesting. They can counter small FPV (first-person view) drones and quadcopters, which are used by the thousands on and beyond the front lines.
Fishing nets are stronger than tulip nets, Pot explained, and are therefore more often used to protect tanks and artillery. Now, he explained, they are also used to defend Ukraine's electricity infrastructure, which comes under attack from Russian drones almost daily.
Other groups across Europe have joined us. In Sweden, Operation Change is collecting nets left unused by fishermen due to EU fishing quotas, sending some 400 tonnes to Ukraine to date. Norwegian Volunteer Aid sent salmon fishing nets that would normally be recycled after use. And in the United Kingdom, the group Microphones for peace has included fishing nets from Scottish ports such as Fraserburgh among its regular aid convoys to Ukraine.
During a visit to France in November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took time off from diplomacy to thank a group of French fishermen who were salvaging old nets from deep-sea vessels fishing for tuna and other species.
The group, called Kernic Solidaritieshas already sent heavy horsehair nets with a total length of 280 kilometers to Ukraine.
“You are people with big hearts,” Zelensky told them. “I don’t think you can even imagine how many lives have been saved thanks to your help. »
The Ukrainian army is particularly interested in having more and thicker fishing nets.
“There were several cases when the guys caught (larger Russian) Lancet drones,” according to Yuriy Andrusenko of the 1020th anti-aircraft missile and artillery regiment.
The Lancet can carry two or three kilograms of explosives and reaches speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour (93 mph) during attack.
“The fishing net will hold him, it just stops him,” Andrusenko told CNN.
As stocks of excess bed nets in the Netherlands and Denmark run out, Pot is looking elsewhere to keep the pipeline running. “The project is far from finished and we will expand throughout Europe,” he said.
“All our partners have the same motivation, which is to help Ukraine and stand on the right side of history.”
