Russia says it bombed Ukrainian drones. Satellite image analysis suggests it only hit crop trucks.

• Russia said last week that it carried out an attack on Ukrainian trucks carrying long-range drones.
• Ukraine pushed back on this and said the strikes targeted civilian trucks moving grain.
• A satellite imagery analysis also points to a similar conclusion.

A Russian attack on trucks said to be transporting Ukrainian drones appears to have instead targeted grain shipments and killed a civilian, according to Kyiv and satellite imagery analysis.

Russia’s defense ministry said last week that it carried out a series of combined airstrikes with ballistic missiles and drones targeting a drone launch site and trucks carrying long-range drones in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region.

Moscow said the attack destroyed 20 trucks carrying 100 long-range drones and killed 60 Ukrainian soldiers, including drone operators, technicians, and truck drivers. It said strikes continued to target trucks along the highway as they drove from the airfield.

The Ukrainian government pushed back on the narrative behind the attack. The Center for Countering Disinformation, which is a part of the country’s National Security and Defense Council, said the strikes damaged and destroyed trucks moving grain and killed a civilian driver. It cited information from the Chernihiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

The Center for Countering Disinformation said Russia’s statement on the attack was “an attempt to justify yet another strike on civilian targets and to conceal the death of a civilian.”

Russia published footage on October 1 showing the attack unfold. The video, captured in broad daylight by an aircraft, shows a road running through the middle of a field with dozens of large trucks parked along it. The footage then shows strikes on that site and other roadways.

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation said “the footage clearly shows civilian transport, with no ‘drone trucks’ or soldiers.”

Kyle Glen, an investigator with the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience who tracks Russian and Ukrainian attacks, said one of the trucks appears to be carrying some type of crop, while others look empty. The footage does not reveal any drones, infrastructure, soldiers, or anything else that would suggest the presence of a military target.

In satellite imagery captured on September 25, a few days before Russia’s attack, there were no trucks at the airfield, nor was there any agricultural work in the adjacent fields, said Glen, who collected and analyzed the low-resolution imagery and shared it with Business Insider.

Imagery captured on September 27 appeared to show some vehicles at the airfield and some ongoing agricultural work — possibly harvesting — in the area. That activity was still there on September 30, the day of the attack, Glen said, suggesting that the buildup of trucks was directly related to the crops.

“I can’t imagine the Ukrainians are rolling up to launch their drones and then hanging out there for another four days, just waiting to get hit by the Russians,” he said. “It doesn’t seem sensible.”

Russia’s defense ministry and its US embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Moscow’s forces intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure.

Throughout the war, Russia has often targeted civilian areas while claiming to have struck Ukrainian military sites or energy infrastructure. It has also carried out attacks against the country’s grain facilities, which help support one of Kyiv’s biggest exports.

The Russian strike in Chernihiv last week comes as Ukraine has significantly ramped up drone attacks on Russia’s energy sector, targeting several key oil refineries in recent weeks. As a result, rising fuel prices and shortages have put pressure on Moscow’s economy.

Glen said this campaign has pressured the Russian military to disrupt these strikes before Ukraine is even able to launch the drones. However, it’s unclear whether reconnaissance drone operators are passing along known civilian targets to commanders or if the strikes on what appear to be crop trucks are accidental.

In its war, Russia has at times faced deficiencies in battlefield targeting, with problems including faulty intelligence and poor strike coordination.

“It seems they’re really hunting for anything that might be there,” Glen said, ” and then maybe not double-checking — not triple-checking — just lobbing a missile at it and hoping it is a military target.”

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