Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it prevented large-scale FPV drone attacks on the Ukrainka military airfield in the Amur Region and the Shagol airfield in the Chelyabinsk Region, detaining the alleged perpetrators and their accomplices. The agency did not disclose the names or biographies of those arrested.
According to the FSB, Ukrainian intelligence delivered the drones to the Bryansk Region in containers using fixed-wing drones and aerostats. The drones were then transported to the airfields in car trailers with false bottoms. Assembly and preparation for the attack, the agency claims, took place in rented garages near the airfields. “Every illegal action was under tight operational control of the Russian special services,” the FSB said in a statement.
During searches, investigators seized 24 FPV drones equipped, according to the FSB, with neural network modules manufactured in the UK, the US, Canada, and Sweden. Each drone carried an explosive charge weighing more than 1 kg. Two mobile ground control stations with self-destruct mechanisms and communication equipment were also confiscated.
The FSB described the events as part of a series of prevented sabotage operations. Earlier, the agency reported thwarting an attack on the Rostov-Tsentralny airfield using 13 drones with artificial intelligence. According to the state-run channel Rossiya 1, the planned operation is being called the “second season” of last year's Ukrainian operation “Pautina” (Web). In June 2025, during that attack, according to Ukraine's SBU security service, more than 100 FPV drones hidden in trucks struck four airfields; by various estimates, between 15 and 41 long-range aircraft were destroyed or critically damaged. The Ukrainka airfield was also among the targets of Pautina, but the truck carrying the drones exploded en route.
A Sunday report on the program “Vesti Nedeli” showed Rossiya 1 correspondent Sergei Zenin accompanying FSB officers at all stages of the operation, from buying a car to transport the drones to storming a warehouse. In a stand-up, Zenin said the vehicle used for transport was “ours, proven,” and that the handlers from Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) “don't know about it.” The report ended with a call for potential saboteurs to report their plans to the FSB in exchange for exemption from criminal liability.
The number of detainees was not specified. The Ukrainian side has not commented on the FSB's claims.