Russians Transform Civilian Kerch Airport into Military Base

In March 2025, Kerch Airport, situated in the eastern part of temporarily occupied Crimea, officially changed its status from a civilian facility to a military one.

This development is confirmed by records from the Russian state real estate registry, along with satellite images that the journalists from the Schemes investigative project obtained and analyzed.

According to these sources, on March 4, 2025, the invasion authorities transferred ownership of portions of the airport’s land to the Russian Ministry of Defense for indefinite use—specifically to its subdivision, the Crimean Territorial Directorate of Property Relations.

Planet Labs satellite images, along with photos provided by the Estonian outlet Delfi, have captured active engineering work around the runway — between February and June 2025, fortification and camouflage structures appeared on the airport grounds.

This may indicate that the facility is being converted into a technical base for the assembly, storage, and launch of strike drones, likely of the Shahed type.

Camouflage structures measuring approximately 12 by 9 meters could be hiding both the drones themselves and air defense elements, specifically systems like the Pantsir or Tor, which fit the dimensions of these shelters.

The area also shows sections with characteristic embankments—likely positions for deploying surface-to-air missile systems.
Meanwhile, the runway remains unchanged, but its specifications now allow for drone launches.

The Russian command may be converting Kerch Airport to expand the geographic reach of drone strike operations across mainland Ukraine.

The goal is to increase the number of launch sites, decentralize launch groups, and enhance overall strike capability.

It was recently reported that the invaders have positioned barges and a target ship at the entrance to the Zaliv Shipyard bay in Kerch to counter Ukrainian anti-ship missile strikes.

Their deployment in the bay indicates that the occupiers take the threat of Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missiles seriously and recognize the need to protect their main shipbuilding yard on the Black Sea.