Blow for Russia. Several Ukrainian strikes have affected the Primorsko-Akhtarsk air base in recent days, one of the main long-range drones launch sites in Russia, according to the specialized militarnyi site.
Satellite images shared this Thursday, August 7 by the Ukrainian geospatial intelligence project Cyberboroshno confirmed the extent of the damage on these three key infrastructures used to store Shahed-136 drones.
“A strong activity of vehicles for the transport of goods and drones has been observed around these buildings,” underline the researchers, based on satellite photos.
In addition, a storage and preparation installation of aerial ammunition has been seriously damaged by these strikes. Fires and unusual activity have been recorded in several sections of the air base, including one of the launch ramps used for the deployment of drones.
Ineffective Russian anti -missile systems
The Primorsko-Akhtarsk air base is regularly used by Russian tactical aviation, but with the growing use of attack drones, Moscow has built a separate infrastructure near the main base for the launch of these drones.
This “droneport” consists of three compact zones intended exclusively for the storage, preparation and launch of attack drones.
In total, eight fixed drones launch systems were identified on the basis, according to geospatial analyst Dnipro. In addition, the adjacent landing track would be used for mobile drone launches made from vehicles.
To protect the site, Russia has deployed a whole battery of S-400 Sol-Air missiles with no less than six launchers and two radar stations. If they were well active at the night of this Ukrainian offensive, the anti -missile systems obviously did not manage to prevent drones from touching their target. However, Primorsko-Akhtarsk is not the only Russian launch platform for long-range drones.