The Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Supernova+ reported an attack by drones on the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region. It did not specify what exactly was attacked or what the consequences were.
Plesetsk is Russia's main military cosmodrome and the only operational one in the country. It launches Soyuz rockets carrying satellites for the Rassvet satellite network and Angara rockets with Defense Ministry satellites. In 2026, Soyuz-2 and Angara rockets were successfully launched from there several times. The cosmodrome also hosted tests of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile.
In the morning, Arkhangelsk region governor Alexander Tsybulsky announced a drone attack threat and urged residents to take shelter. The threat was lifted around 3 p.m. Moscow time, eight hours after it was declared. The governor did not report on the consequences of the attack.
The day before, drones were spotted for the first time over the Pinezhsky district. District head Lyudmila Kolik said the drones were moving toward Arkhangelsk and that the targets were "strategic facilities." In total, 40 drones were shot down over the region that day; no casualties were reported.
In April, Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov told Vladimir Putin that Ukrainian drones had tried to attack Plesetsk during a satellite launch. That attempt to disrupt the launch failed.
Recently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have stepped up strikes on Russian space infrastructure. On August 15, the Progress rocket and space center in the Samara region — the only enterprise that serially assembles Soyuz-2 launch vehicles — was attacked. Satellite images showed the destruction of the workshop where Soyuz rockets are produced; its restoration could take several months.
Sources differ: The Moscow Times confirms that Ukrainian drones reached the Arkhangelsk region for the first time and names Plesetsk as the target of the attack, while Supernova+ directly reports a strike on the cosmodrome without specifying consequences. Russian officials, including Governor Tsybulsky, have not commented on the attack on Plesetsk.