Russia expands Shahed drone plant in Tatarstan, satellite photos show
Russia is expanding the Shahed UAV manufacturing facility in Yelabuga, Tatarstan, as seen in satellite images NV examined on July 9.
The most noticeable additions to the factory are new housing units for laborers assembling the kamikaze drones. This finding corresponds with a recent assessment by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR), which said that manpower is the main bottleneck for Russia’s Shahed production.
In addition to worker dormitories, the images show a new facility building where drones or their components will be manufactured.
Russian production capacity appears to be ramping up quickly. One of the new production zones was only about 50% complete in April 2025, but the building’s exterior now appears finished. Another area under construction is slated to host new production workshops as part of the Synergia project. Two Synergia project workshops already exist on the premises and are directly involved in assembling strike UAVs, a fact also confirmed by OSINT (open-source intelligence) project Dnipro-OSINT.
Since 2022, at least eight large production workshops have been built at the Yelabuga site through the summer of 2025. An additional workshop is now under construction, and another building zone has emerged on an adjacent plot, though its purpose remains unknown.
It is important to note that satellite imagery offers no insight into when the new buildings will have operational production lines. How quickly Russia can ramp up production in these facilities, or whether production has already begun inside the buildings constructed in 2025, remains unclear.
Earlier on July 9, Russia launched the largest air strike of the war against Ukraine’s Zhytomyr and Lutsk: the cities were targeted by 728 Shahed UAVs and a handful of Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles.
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