Russian FPV Drone Operators Deliberately Target Ukrainian Wind Farms

Russian forces have carried out a deliberate drone strike on turbines at the Ochakiv wind farm, one of Ukraine’s largest renewable energy facilities, according to footage posted on a pro-Russian Telegram channel.

The video, published by the channel From Mariupol to the Carpathian Mountains, shows FPV drones striking turbines near the village of Dmytrivka in the Mykolaiv region.

The attack specifically targeted the nacelle — the component of the turbine that houses the electric generator, braking system and transmission.

The turbines do not have any military or dual-use equipment. The only visible equipment in the footage is an anemometer used to measure wind speed and direction.

The video appears to document a deliberate attack on a civilian target with no military function, which would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.

Such actions are prohibited under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which defines attacks on civilian infrastructure as a war crime.

The Telegram channel has posted at least three similar videos, suggesting the attacks are systematic and intentional.

Identification of Russian terrorist operators

On March 23, investigative journalists reported identifying Russian commanders behind drone strikes on civilian areas in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The investigation focused on Telegram channels frequently publishing footage of drone attacks on civilians — including Viking Squad, Light at the End of the Tunnel, Moses, and From Mariupol to the Carpathian Mountains.

Kherson region residents have been particularly affected by drone strikes, but the attacks now span much of the front line.

One of the most prominent figures identified in the investigation is the administrator of From Mariupol to the Carpathian Mountains, known as “Uncle Sasha.” Journalists identified him as Oleksandr Sheptura, a former police officer and Russian collaborator from the Donetsk region.

Sheptura, 47, headed the regional Criminal Investigation Department in Donetsk in 2013. After the city was occupied, he sided with Russian forces.

Since 2015, he has led the so-called Department for Combating Organized Crime in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), a body reportedly responsible for running torture facilities following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Sheptura has been implicated in multiple human rights abuses, including the abduction and torture of civilians in occupied Donetsk.

He is also suspected of involvement in the 2022 Russian attack on the Olenivka penal colony, which killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

At the time, Sheptura served as the so-called deputy interior minister of the DPR. He is currently a suspect in several criminal investigations.