&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'To store Shahed-type kamikaze drones': Russia turning occupied Ukraine into big military base for future attacks")
As the Russia-Ukraine war continues despite Trump's pressure to stop the killings, recent satellite images provided by Planet Labs show that Russia is turning the parts of Ukraine it occupies into a giant military base and a potential launch pad for future aggression, Ukraine's local Kyiv Independent reported.
It noted that Russia's forces in the occupied territories, particularly in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, are turning civilian infrastructures into bases where they can let their soldiers stay.
From this location, they will also transport ammunition and launch their drones from closer than ever to Ukrainian-held territory, according to a Kyiv Independent report.
Donetsk International Airport is one of the finest examples of this. As per the satellite images, a sudden buildup on the foundations of the old airport. This airport was one of the last holdouts for Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk until Russian-backed partisans overtook it at the end of 2014.
The April footage showed that the airport looked exactly as desolate as it was since it was captured. However, at the end of July, Russian forces had repaved the landing strip.
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Vadym Hlushko, founder of Ukrainian OSINT project Kiberboroshno, said that the new airport structures are all a launchpad for the ever-expanding flocks of Russia's long-range drones.
"This is the so-called ramshackle infrastructure — garages for storing and launching kamikaze drones of the 'Shahed' type. In addition to the main launch installations, they also set up so-called 'decoys' — fake launch positions and false locations," Hlushko told the Kyiv Independent.
He further warned that launches from Donetsk Airport may even allow Shaheds to fly armed with artillery shells, which they can drop along the way to their final kamikaze attack.
