Six months ago, satellite imagery from CyberBoroshno detected construction of closed storage facilities and runway preparation zones on the ruins of Donetsk Airport. Russians were transforming the legendary facility, destroyed back in 2015, into a logistics hub for strike drones. Now the 1st Separate Center of Unmanned Systems Forces (14th Regiment) claims this hub is under constant fire control by Ukraine.
What "fire control" means in practice
Fire control is not a one-time strike or occupation. It is the ability to regularly strike any activity at a facility: equipment, warehouses, fuel tankers, air defense calculations, mobile fire groups. This is exactly the work described by 14th Regiment operators: they strike at launch teams before the Shaheds even take to the air.
"We stopped the enemy before the Shaheds took to the sky. Now fewer drones will fly to our cities"
— message from the 1st Center of Unmanned Systems Forces on Telegram after destroying a launch vehicle
The unit claims this is the first instance where fire control over a major airfield has been provided exclusively by unmanned systems — without artillery in direct line of sight and without ground seizure.
Why Russia needs this airport at all
Since September 2024, Russia has been ramping up the pace of Shahed launches — from approximately 200 per week to over 1,000 per week by March 2025. Donetsk Airport became one of the key hubs of this system: CyberBoroshno analysts identified warhead storage facilities, pre-flight preparation points, command centers, and positions for Geran, Shahed, and Gerbera drones here.
In November 2025, the General Staff confirmed a joint strike on "a storage, assembly, and launch base for Shahed-type UAVs" — at that time, hangars allegedly contained up to 1,000 Geran-2 drones and over 1,500 warheads. A powerful secondary detonation was captured on video by hundreds of witnesses.
- November 5, 2025 — first large-scale strike on airport warehouses: over 90% of drones reached their targets
- December 30, 2025 — second strike by the 1st Center of Unmanned Systems Forces: destroyed logistics hub, warhead warehouse, maintenance points
- March 2026 — announced establishment of permanent fire control
The logic of "shoot the shooter"
Destroying a Shahed in the air costs more than launching it. Destroying it along with the launch crew and warehouse on the ground is fundamentally different economics. This is exactly the logic implemented by the 14th Regiment: interception at the launch preparation stage, not on the route to Kharkiv or Kyiv.
According to Euromaidan Press, the December strike simultaneously targeted a Geran/Shahed logistics hub, the central warhead warehouse, and a concentration point for personnel responsible for pre-flight maintenance.
In parallel, according to reports on long-range FPV drones, SBU units conducted strikes near the airport with FPV quadcopters at distances over 60 kilometers — well beyond the typical range of such systems.
What remains unverified
"Fire control" is a claim by the unit itself, not verified by independent observers. Satellite imagery can show infrastructure damage, but not the ability to continuously suppress it. Russia has already relocated launch positions after strikes — including to Makhnushino in southern Donetsk region.
If fire control is real and not merely declarative, the next indicator will be the dynamics of Shahed launches from the Donetsk agglomeration in the coming weeks: will they statistically decline significantly, or will Russia simply relocate firing points beyond the 14th Regiment's range.
