Ukrainian drones struck a missile launch pad used to guard one of Vladimir Putin‘s lavish residences from long-range attacks.
The S-400 “Triumph” anti-aircraft missile launch pad, located around 12 miles from the Russian president’s Italianate palace complex near Gelendzhik, southern Russia, is designed to repel aircraft, drones and cruise missiles.
It was left “ablaze and sputtering for three hours” after being targeted by Ukrainian drones, according to Major Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces.
The air defence system is used alongside electronic warfare systems and mobile fire groups to defend the palace, which is encircled by a 27-square-mile “buffer zone”, according to reports. Security officials maintain a permanent no-fly zone above the complex.
Major Brovdi said that the launch pad had been repurposed to fire munitions at Ukrainian cities, including six missiles on Aug 8.
Analysts said Moscow had turned to these systems to intensify its missile attacks on Ukraine because of a critical shortage of the Patriot interceptors that form its sole defence against ballistic barrages.
“While less accurate and lethal, they still represent a threat to civilian infrastructure, particularly when launched at densely populated areas,” wrote Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert at the University of Oslo.
S-400 ‘Triumph’ anti-aircraft missile launchers on display at a military parade in Moscow – Sefa Karacan/Getty Images
The residence near Gelendzhik, known as “Putin’s Palace”, may have set the Russian president back as much as £1bn, according to an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation led by Alexei Navalny, the late opposition leader, in 2021. Navalny died in a Siberian prison in 2024.
Journalists claimed that the luxurious complex housed a casino, vineyard, spa, ice rink, theatre, pole-dancing room, hookah lounge, “aquatic disco”, miniature railway room and more. In 2023, it was reported that a chapel had been added.
An attack in the same region last week led to Ukrainian drone fragments falling on a beach, killing seven bathers.
Putin is believed to visit the Black Sea refuge only rarely, fearing Ukrainian long-range drone strikes and increasingly favouring his highly fortified luxury dacha on Lake Valdai, 185 miles east of Moscow.
That residence, which is understood to be home to Alina Kabaeva, his covert long-term partner, and their two sons, is protected by at least 27 towers mounted with Pantsir anti-aircraft systems, costing some £16m per unit.
Ukraine’s military intelligence said on Monday that Kyiv’s drones had also struck two Russian S-400 Triumf air defence launchers, as well as an antenna it uses to control medium-altitude Orion drones in occupied Crimea.
Losses from the strike could amount to the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars, Ukraine’s directorate of intelligence said.
An oil refinery in Tatarstan was targeted by Ukrainian long-range drones on Monday – Reuters
Russia has struggled to defend itself against Ukraine’s large-scale drone attacks, which have become a near-nightly occurrence. Overnight on Monday, more than 450 long-range drones sailed on to Russian soil, hitting an oil refinery in Tatarstan.
The attack killed at least 13 people, making it one of the deadliest single attacks on Russian soil since the war began. Drone fragments also reportedly fell in Tyumen, Siberia.
Kyiv hopes to use these attacks to increase pressure on the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table, but on Monday a Russian official dismissed Ukraine’s demands to freeze the front line and implement a ceasefire.
“No ‘freeze’ is possible without addressing the root causes of this crisis,” said Mikhail Galuzin, the Russian deputy foreign minister.
