Russia builds its first naval drone port on Lake Donuzlav

Russia builds a naval drone port on Lake Donuzlav

Recent satellite imagery suggests that the Russian Navy is building its first naval drone port on the shore of Lake Donuzlav, near Novoozerne. The images assessed indicate that this would be Russia’s first naval facility designed to launch and store unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), “whose layout bears some resemblance to the ports used to launch Shahed drones”, according to Defence Express.

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In the imagery, underground shelters on the Lake Donuzlav shoreline can be seen with sand embankments along their sides and camouflage nets covering them. Dirt tracks run to each structure, enabling USVs to be moved. “It is likely that other infrastructure supporting the drone port is located close to these hideouts. Specifically, this includes warehouses, workshops for maintaining and preparing the drones for maritime operations, antenna systems for communications and other facilities,” the outlet added.

According to an assessment by OSINT analyst HI Sutton, 21 shelters have been identified along the shore of Lake Donuzlav in the new satellite images. He also stated that work on these shelters began in February 2026, “which means that the drone port could already be operational”, the outlet reported.

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Naval drone operations in the Black Sea region

Ukraine’s Armed Forces have carried out several attacks against Russian Navy vessels in the regional theatre using naval drones. In January 2024, the Russian missile corvette Ivanovets was destroyed following attacks by naval drones fitted with explosive charges. In comments issued after the attack, Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Directorate explained: “[…] The enemy vessel was stationed on Lake Donuzlav, in temporarily occupied Crimea. As a result of multiple direct hits to the Russian vessel’s hull, it sustained damage incompatible with further navigation: the Ivanovets listed aft and sank.”

Unmanned systems in the Russia-Ukraine war

As unmanned systems have become an established feature of the battlefield, both the Ukrainian and Russian Armed Forces maintain branches specialising in drone warfare. In mid-November 2025, Russia announced the establishment of the Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) to “centralise the production, operation, testing and doctrine for the employment of unmanned systems”, replicating Ukraine’s USF model, which was created in early 2024. At the same time, as previously reported, Russia will introduce a compulsory basic course on unmanned systems at more than 100 transport universities and higher-education training centres across the country.

Russia expands its USV deployment capability

By constructing this new USV drone port, Russia would expand its ability to deploy military assets in the region from the maritime domain. In the air domain, meanwhile, Russia would continue using Shahed drones in border areas while holding Geran-4 platforms and Banderol cruise missiles in reserve for attacks on Ukrainian cities in the rear, according to Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s president.

Cover photograph used for illustrative purposes.