{"id":11037,"date":"2026-08-17T16:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/11037\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T16:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:04:10","slug":"russia-expanding-secret-bases-that-can-launch-drones-deep-inside-nato-territory-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/11037\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia expanding secret bases that can launch drones deep inside Nato territory: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia <\/a>has built secret bases from which it will be able to launch long-range suicide drones <\/a>deep into Nato territory,<\/a> according to a report.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin <\/a>has built and expanded at least 10 new bases with at least 59 new launch rails, according to an investigation by The Telegraph<\/a> using satellite imagery and leaked documents.<\/p>\n

The bases are designed to fire large numbers of jet-powered drones that can overload Ukrainian air defences as Moscow bombards military and civilian targets across the country.<\/p>\n

But situated along its borders with Ukraine and Belarus, the hi-tech drones will also be able to reach Kyiv’s allies in Nato, the report said.<\/p>\n

\"Asovitsa-Ashelok<\/p>\n

Asovitsa-Ashelok was identified as a drone launch and storage base (Vantour)<\/p>\n

Around 20 of the new launch rails, the guide tracks that are used to fire drones, have been extended in design to allow Russian forces to fire long-range attack drones, according to images analysed by drone intelligence firm DroneSec.<\/p>\n

Europe and Nato have been raising the alarm over growing Russian provocations over the last year, amid concern Moscow could launch an attack to probe the alliance’s borders.<\/p>\n

A Nato spokesperson told The Independent that it “closely monitors Russian military activity, including its long-range strike and drone capabilities” and that it has the “plans, tools, authorities and forces necessary to deter aggression and defend against any threat”.<\/p>\n

US intelligence assessments suggested Vladimir Putin could order a limited attack on an allied country within the coming years, with possibilities ranging from a cyberattack to a small-scale incursion to test how far Moscow can go without triggering a response, officials told multiple US outlets.<\/p>\n

\"Satellite<\/p>\n

Satellite images in Kursk airfield show storage facilities and launch rails (Vantour)<\/p>\n

Drone and plane incursions into Nato territory have become the norm, forcing the alliance to regularly scramble jets to deal with potential threats. On Sunday, Nato jets shot down a drone in Romania’s airspace<\/a> that it said “appears to be Russian”. Two days earlier, four NATO fighter jets were scrambled to shoot down a drone in Latvian airspace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Latvian authorities said that a “foreign unmanned aerial vehicle” had “flown into Latvia as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare”.<\/p>\n

The latest revelations in The Telegraph will only add to concerns the Kremlin is planning to test Nato defences.<\/p>\n

Moscow is storing increasing numbers of hi-tech drones at the bases, with one having enough space for 1,000 drones, imagery reportedly showed. More launch rails are also being constructed.<\/p>\n

DroneSec CEO Mike Monnik told the outlet that Russian forces “significantly expanded” their drone network to drive up the threat against Nato.<\/p>\n

\"Suicide<\/p>\n

Suicide drones such as the Shahed are fired using launch rails (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

The Nato spokesperson said the alliance is investing nearly $40 billion into counter-drone capabilities over the next five years, with allies set to train “five times as many drone operators in their Armed Forces by the end of 2027”.<\/p>\n

They aded: “We will continue to strengthen our resilience and enhance the tools at our disposal, ensuring that the Alliance remains ready to deter and defend every Ally.”<\/p>\n

Nato first shot down a Russian drone over a member state last September, when Poland said its territory had been breached 19 times in a single night<\/a>, and leading prime minister Donald Tusk to invoke Article 4, which triggering discussions on how Nato will respond as an international body.<\/p>\n

Several of Russia’s new drone hubs were formerly military bases and civilian airports, an indication of the ever-increasing importance of drone warfare both for Russia’s four-and-a-half-year invasion and Ukraine’s robust defence.<\/p>\n

Kyiv’s reportedly increasing use of foreign-made drones to strike increasingly deep inside Russian territory could serve for Moscow as a pretext for provocation in Nato.<\/p>\n

The Times<\/a> reported on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have used British drones made by two companies to attack deep inside Russia’s mainland<\/a> for the first time, striking targets such as oil refineries over the past six months.<\/p>\n

Putin has previously made clear that Russia would treat this as the direct participation of Nato in the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russia has built secret bases from which it will be able to launch long-range suicide drones deep into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6644,2437,20,6666,6665,6667,437],"class_list":["post-11037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-attack-drones","tag-moscow","tag-russia","tag-russian-forces","tag-russian-military","tag-suicide-drones","tag-vladimir-putin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}