Drones Attack Yeysk Airbase, Fire Breaks Out

Ukrainian drones attacked the Yeysk military airbase in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai.

Exilenova+ has published footage showing a fire and explosions at the airbase.

The strike reportedly caused a fire, followed by what appears to be the detonation of ammunition.

In addition to videos filmed by local residents, NASA’s FIRMS monitoring system detected the fire at 04:02 a.m. According to its data, the fire spread from the aircraft parking area toward the runway.

The previous day, starting at 02:58 a.m. local time, a drone alert was declared in the region, also covering the city of Yeysk. The alert remained in effect until 05:33 a.m., when local authorities announced that it had ended. Overall, the warning lasted for about three hours.

The Russian military uses the airbase to launch missiles and guided aerial bombs against targets in Ukraine.

The airbase also plays an important role in Russia’s Aerospace Forces. In particular, it is home to the 859th Center for Combat Employment and Retraining of Naval Aviation Flight Personnel of the Russian Navy.

The airbase also hosts the NITKA ground-based test and training complex, an aviation facility designed to simulate an aircraft carrier deck. It is used to train Russian carrier-based aviation in takeoffs and landings.

Since Ukrainian drones have attacked the military airbase repeatedly, Russian forces do not keep combat aircraft there permanently.

Meanwhile, Russia may move a number of combat aircraft to the airbase shortly before attacks.

Militarnyi previously reported that on May 15, 2026, operators of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Special Operations Forces strike drones destroyed a Be-200 amphibious aircraft and damaged a Ka-27 helicopter at the Russian airbase in Yeysk.

In addition to aviation facilities, the city is also home to the 726th Air Defense Training Center, where Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed Russian drones in June 2024 that were being used to launch attacks against Ukraine.

At the time, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces struck a training facility and a command post used by Russian drone operators.