Russia adds decoys to air bases near Ukraine
Russia hopes decoys will mask activity at air bases or lure Ukraine's attack drones into hitting false targets
Updated June 9 2024
As Ukrainian long-range strike capabilities have grown, so has the number of decoys at Russian air bases involved in the invasion of Ukraine. Several of these decoys are painted at air bases that were once beyond Kyiv’s reach.
In the summer of 2023, I noticed new activity at Russia’s Yeysk air base. Russia was creating plane-like shapes at the base and these white “canvases” were later painted to resemble Russian fighter jets. Primorsko-Ahktarsk, an air base on the Sea of Azov, got its own decoys as well. Some of these are painted in color while others are less detailed.
The pattern continued across nearby bases. At Krymsk air base, home to Russia’s 3rd Mixed Aviation Regiment, new decoys appeared in late 2023. In Crimea too, at least two were added to Hvardiiske air base. While most have multiple decoys some, such as Kushchyovskaya air base, only have one.
Further north, at Engels-2 and Dyagilevo air bases, new imitations of Russian bombers appeared on the ground. Notably, these bases were previously attacked by Ukrainian drones before these decoys were spotted.
So if these decoys are easy to spot, why did Russia create them? While not very convincing in high resolution imagery, these decoys may aim to mislead Ukrainian one-way attack drones that rely on basic cameras for recognition of aircraft shapes. The decoys could also make it marginally more difficult to determine which air bases are active and the specific location of Russian aircraft at those sites.
Check out more images of Russia’s decoy aircraft below ↓
