Satellite images show Russia built shelters for vulnerable aircraft after relentless drone strikes, intel says

Russia has built hardened shelters to protect its vulnerable aircraft at several bases following a string of long-range Ukrainian drone strikes, a new Western intelligence assessment suggests.

Britain’s defense ministry this week published satellite imagery from early June, collected by the US company Planet Labs, that shows newly constructed shelters at three Russian air bases behind the front lines.

The shelters, which consist of dome-shaped rooftops and thick blast doors, were photographed at Russia’s Millerovo, Kursk Vostochny, and Hvardiiske air bases. Some structures were seen covered with earth for added protection that could help shield against shrapnel or other debris.

The UK said in a Tuesday intelligence update that Russia had launched efforts to protect vulnerable aircraft at several bases “in response to numerous successful” Ukrainian drone attacks. Millerovo, just a few miles across the border, for instance, was targeted just last week.

“The construction of these hardened aircraft shelters provides a layer of protection to aircraft deployed to Russian airbases against future” Ukrainian drone attacks, the UK explained.

Hardened shelters are one of several tactics that Russia has turned to in an effort to protect its fighter jets from the Ukrainian attacks. Moscow has also painted decoy warplanes on the tarmac at its air bases and even covered its bomber aircraft with tires in an attempt to confuse Kyiv’s targeting and mislead the drones. It’s unclear, however, how effective these protective measures have been.

Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks have been a bright spot for Kyiv during the three-and-a-half-year-long war, which has transitioned from a maneuver conflict to one of attrition, featuring largely static front lines and standoff strikes from distance.

The US long prevented Ukraine from using Western-provided missiles to strike across the border and inside Russian territory. That arsenal was also quite limited. As a workaround to these restrictions, Kyiv invested heavily in domestic drone production.

Over the past year, Ukraine has repeatedly used homemade long-range drones to strike a range of high-value military and energy targets inside Russia, including oil terminals, ammunition depots, weapons-making factories, and air bases.

Russian air bases have been a particular focus for the Ukrainian military, as Moscow uses these sites to stage deadly attacks against troops and civilians, relying on missiles and guided bombs.

On Tuesday, conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said in a battlefield assessment that Ukrainian forces “appear to be intensifying a long-range strike campaign against Russian military industrial facilities and transport networks.”

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