Ukrainian Defense Forces have destroyed a major base used to store and launch Shahed strike drones in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) Robert “Madyar” Brovdi reported.
“The base for storing, equipping, and launching Shaheds – Donetsk airport – no longer exists,” Brovdi wrote on Telegram.
According to Brovdi, the operation was a joint effort involving Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO), missile troops and artillery, and the 414th Separate Brigade of Unmanned Systems – “Birds of the Madyar.”
Brovdi said the strike followed months of detailed reconnaissance:
“Developing this complex target took painstaking work over several months, assembled from small pieces. Last night, it was executed with the appropriate strike assets of the SSO and missile troops.”
The General Staff later confirmed that Ukrainian forces targeted a Shahed storage and launch base at Donetsk airport. Multiple explosions and powerful secondary detonations were recorded at the site.
The Telegram channel “Spy Dossier,” which describes itself as being run by intelligence officers, reported that both cruise missiles and attack drones were used in the strike.
According to the channel, the attack completely destroyed an ammunition depot, a fuel storage site, and a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) pre-launch processing facility, while also damaging power and communications units.
The report claimed that up to 1,000 Geran-2 drones and more than 1,500 warheads were present at the airfield at the time of the strike – information that Kyiv Post has not yet been able to independently verify.
Ukraine’s Special Ops later published a report on Telegram, along with a video captioned, “How SSO drones blew up the Shahed warehouse in Donetsk!”
Footage from drone cameras shows the moments of impact, though Kyiv Post was unable to independently verify the time and location of the recording.
“On the evening of Nov. 5, Special Operations Forces units carried out a strike on a base used for storing, equipping, and launching Shahed drones in temporarily occupied Donetsk. The enemy’s military infrastructure was located on the grounds of the former international airport,” the report said.
According to the SSO, more than 90 percent of the launched drones hit their targets.
“A powerful explosion and subsequent detonations were recorded on video by numerous eyewitnesses,” the report added.
Ukraine’s targeted strikes on Russian drone factories and storage hubs havesharply reduced the number of Shahed kamikaze drones launched against Ukraine in the summer, according to reports from Kyiv Post and Ukrainian defense outlets.
Between July and August, Ukrainian forces and security services hit multiple facilities used to produce, store, and transport Iranian-designed Shahed drones.
The number of drone launches fell from 6,303 in July to 4,132 in August – about a one-third drop. Analysts say the decline proves Ukraine’s campaign is working.
Russia typically launches drones in waves, pausing three to four days between large attacks to rebuild its stockpile. In July, Moscow fired 728 drones in one record-breaking strike; in August, these “pools” were much smaller.
Several key strikes disrupted production:
- Izhevsk (July 1): Ukraine hit the Kupol Electromechanical Plant, which makes drones and air-defense systems. Four workshops were destroyed, halting production.
- Moscow Region (July 4 & 7): Drone attacks targeted a Rostec plant producing Shahed warheads and the Krasnozavodsk Chemical Plant that makes thermobaric explosives.
- Tatarstan (Aug. 9-12): Ukrainian drones struck a major storage hub in Kzyl-Yul supplying parts to the Alabuga drone assembly zone, destroying large reserves.
- Astrakhan Region (Aug. 15): A strike on Olya seaport sank an Iranian ship carrying drone parts, disrupting foreign supply lines.
Experts say the campaign has forced Russia to scale back its drone operations, making it harder to sustain large waves of attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
However, Moscow has tried to compensate by building new launch sites in the Bryansk and Oryol regions and recruiting young workers in Tatarstan to boost production.