Russia's drone launch sites built to attack Ukraine
A Russian air base has new infrastructure for storing and launching one-way attack drones
Brady Africk
Aug 14, 2025
Welcome to
Views From Above, a newsletter bringing you satellite imagery snapshots of major world events.
Today, we are looking at an air base Russia uses to launch one-way attack drones at Ukraine.
In the last three years, Russia has launched
thousands of one-way attack drones at Ukraine — sometimes
more than 400 in a single night. Russian forces send the drones in waves, launching them in tandem with missiles and
decoys in an attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses. Each drone can
carry its explosive warhead more than 1,000 kilometers before slamming into a target. While Kyiv shoots down a large number of these drones, many still impact residential buildings or civilian infrastructure.
Originally supplied by Iran, Russia can now produce these drones domestically. Ukraine has targeted the main facility producing them several times, but the complex continues to operate and
expand.
An image from inside Russia’s large drone factory
In recent months, drone launch sites were built at several
locations closer to the battlefield in Ukraine, including an air base in southwestern Russia.
Satellite imagery of the base shows new storage areas and launch rails, which the drones use for takeoff. They launch with the help of a
rocket booster — a process that leaves scorch marks and charred grass at the end of each rail. At other launch sites, Russia uses
trucks or
catapults to launch the drones.
Image © 2025 Maxar Technologies | Delivered by SkyFi® | Annotations by Brady Africk
Also located at the base are recently constructed hardened shelters, which Russian forces can use to store and protect larger aircraft, drones, and other equipment. Visible in the satellite image below is a group of more than a dozen drones near these shelters. Further imagery shows groups of drones massed near one of the base’s launch sites.
Image © 2025 Maxar Technologies | Delivered by SkyFi® | Annotations by Brady Africk
Image © 2025 Planet Labs | Annotations by Brady Africk
Ukraine has also developed a
suite of long-range one-way attack drones. In recent weeks, strikes from Kyiv’s fleet of drones have
targeted Russian military sites like Primorsko-Akhtarsk air base, fuel depots, oil refineries, and manufacturing facilities linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
One of Kyiv’s recent
strikes hit a refinery more than 1,700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Another targeted a refinery in the Russian city of Saratov,
causing the facility to pause oil intake. These efforts are part of Ukraine’s broader
campaign to damage Russia’s military production capabilities and cut into Moscow’s energy revenues.