(DONETSK) – Ukrainian forces have carried out a combined missile strike on a storage site used for Iranian designed Shahed attack drones at Donetsk airport, according to video evidence and battlefield analysis released after the attack.
The strike took place a day earlier and involved the use of both long range ATACMS missiles and British supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Footage circulating online shows the moment Ukrainian forces carried out the coordinated attack on what analysts say was a facility used to store drones intended for operations against Ukrainian territory.
A reconnaissance drone was observed hovering over the target area and guiding the strike onto the storage site. The video shows several impacts hitting the same location, indicating that multiple missiles struck the facility.
Military observers noted that the use of ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles together in a single operation is unusual and may mark the first confirmed instance of Ukraine employing the two Western supplied precision systems in a coordinated strike against the same target.
The target selected for the strike was a storage location for Shahed drones at Donetsk airport. These drones are used extensively by Russian forces to conduct long range attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
Additional drone footage recorded after the strike shows extensive damage to the structure believed to have housed the drones. The building appears heavily damaged, with smoke rising from the site and several fires burning in different parts of the facility.
Analysts reviewing the footage noted multiple visible impact points across the structure. However, some of the damage to the building may predate the latest strike. The airport complex has previously been the scene of heavy fighting during the war and parts of the infrastructure had already been damaged during earlier battles.
Despite this, the new footage shows a large fire still burning in the area following the attack, indicating that the strike caused significant additional destruction at the facility.
Near the end of the footage, several launch rails used for Shahed drones can also be seen positioned nearby. These rails are used to launch the drones once they are assembled and prepared for flight.
This is not the first time Ukrainian forces have targeted the Shahed drone infrastructure at Donetsk airport. The location was struck late last year and had also been attacked several months before that.
Analysts say the repeated targeting suggests that Russian forces have continued to use the site as a launch base despite previous damage.
Satellite imagery and mapping analysis of the airport show the building that was hit marked near several launch positions. Satellite images previously identified four launch rails at the location, along with several smaller surrounding structures.
The purpose of the smaller structures is not fully clear, but analysts believe they may be used to temporarily store drones after assembly before they are moved onto the launch rails.
The structures appear relatively small and may only be capable of holding one Shahed drone at a time. The drones are likely transferred quickly from these structures to the launch rails before being launched toward their targets.
It remains unclear whether the strike destroyed fully assembled drones or components stored separately. In previous attacks on similar facilities, Ukrainian intelligence found that the drones and their explosive warheads were stored separately until shortly before launch.
The absence of a large secondary explosion in the footage suggests the drones may not have been fully armed at the time of the strike. Analysts therefore believe the missiles may have destroyed drones that had not yet been fitted with their warheads, although this cannot be confirmed.
Mapping of the site shows that the drone base is located relatively close to the front line, making it vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes.
Although Shahed drones are capable of long range operations, analysts believe Russian forces positioned the launch site closer to the front in order to launch drones more quickly and reduce the time available for Ukrainian air defences to detect and intercept them.
The location may also allow Russian forces to reach targets deeper inside Ukraine more rapidly.
Ukrainian officials have not yet issued a detailed public statement on the strike, but the available footage indicates that the operation successfully hit a facility involved in the preparation and launch of Shahed drones.
