Ukraine may have just changed the future of warfare. In a historic operation, Ukrainian drone forces established fire control over Donetsk Airport without sending a single soldier into battle. Once a key Russian logistics and drone hub, the airport has become a trap under relentless Ukrainian strikes. How did Ukraine pull off what military planners once thought impossible? And what does this mean for Russia’s offensive in Donetsk? Watch now to find out.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We know how bases are supposed to be captured. It takes manpower,
00:04concerted campaigns. Traditionally, bases don't fall unless the attacking side puts boots on the
00:10ground. Ukraine just turned tradition on its head. Employing a brutal and brilliant new tactic,
00:16Ukraine has just taken control over a key Russian base. This isn't just smart, it's revolutionary.
00:22This new approach will be studied for a century. No army has ever taken over a base without sending
00:28a single soldier. Ukraine just did. That base is the Donetsk airport, which Russia has controlled
00:34for much of the Ukraine war. That airport is key for Russia. For years, Putin's patsies have been
00:40using it as a logistical base through which troops and equipment flow to support the frontline offensive
00:44that is supposed to cripple Donetsk. The airport is also a drone base. Russia's unmanned aerial
00:50vehicles are being stored and launched from the airport, making the base critical for sustaining
00:55pressure on Ukraine's forces and for bombing Ukrainian cities as part of Putin's campaign of
01:00terror. The war criminal just got a rude awakening. The Donetsk airport is now under the fire control
01:06of Ukraine. That's according to Ukraine's first separate unmanned systems center, which described
01:11the operation that Ukraine just pulled off as the first operation of its kind in modern history.
01:17Ukraine didn't send soldiers to assault the Donetsk airport. That would have been folly. Those
01:21forces would have had to reclaim hundreds, if not thousands, of square kilometers of territory just
01:25to set up for a big battle over the airport. Tradition went out of the window. Instead, Ukraine's
01:31drone operators stayed back, launching wave after wave of brutal metal at the airport. Once heavily
01:37fortified, that airport is now under Ukraine's control. Soldiers aren't on the ground, but drones
01:42are in the skies, and they're stopping Russia from using Donetsk airport to do damage to Ukraine.
01:46This is a game-changer for Ukraine. It transforms everything we know about the situation in Donetsk
01:52and Putin's future plans for the war. But before we dig into all of that, there's what Ukraine is
01:57actually doing at the Donetsk airport to cover. The first separate unmanned systems center gives us
02:02the lowdown in a telegram post, where it explains how Ukraine managed to create fire control over a
02:07base without sending a single soldier into the fight. Our strike drone operators are destroying
02:12launchers, transport vehicles, and eliminating crews directly on the runway. At the same time,
02:17we are systematically hunting for enemy mobile fire groups and air defenses, which forces the
02:22enemy to cancel flights, the sender said. Translation, Ukraine is hitting everything.
02:27Russia has no answers. Ukraine's goal here is to degrade Russia's operational capacity at the base to
02:33the point where Donetsk airport becomes unusable. There are parallels with Ukraine's Black Sea campaign
02:39here. In that campaign, Ukraine didn't have the warships needed to conduct a traditional naval
02:44battle with Russia, so Ukraine took a different route. Using missiles and drones, Ukraine systematically
02:49destroyed the Black Sea fleet from afar, taking out a third of it and forcing Russia's ships to
02:54withdraw as far away from occupied Crimea as they can get. Now Ukraine has the ability to target air
02:59defenses and key military assets throughout the Black Sea and Crimea. That's what we're about to see
03:05in Donetsk, and it's killing Putin. Every launch system that Ukraine's drones destroy at the Donetsk
03:10airport is a system that Russia can no longer use to send drones into Ukraine's territory.
03:15Transport vehicles and personnel being taken out at the airport is a signal that nowhere in the near
03:20rear is safe anymore. Those are assets that should be supplying the front lines, but they can't.
03:26They've been destroyed. Fuel trucks, storage sites, engineering equipment, it's all needed for the push
03:31into Donetsk, and it's all going up in flames as Ukraine takes out the aerodrome ecosystem that
03:37Russia has created. This isn't just about fire control, it's about making Donetsk airport such a
03:42dangerous place for Russia to operate that it will have no choice but to withdraw from one of the key
03:47bases that it's created in the occupied territories. The Black Sea fleet knows what that feels like,
03:53but it won't be able to offer any advice other than to run. And if there is any doubt about
03:57the validity
03:57of Ukraine's claims, the first separate unmanned system center has put them to bed. How? Well,
04:02the center isn't just saying that it has fire control, it proved it with footage that showcases
04:06strike after strike at the Donetsk airport. The two-minute video is a showcase of the shattering
04:11of one of Russia's most vital bases. Over and over, we see views as shot from the Ukrainian middle-range
04:16drones as they home in on vehicles, military assets, and soldiers. There is no safe space at the Donetsk
04:21airport anymore. Apparently, there are no air defenses that can do anything about Ukraine's drones either.
04:26Now there is only one thing, the knowledge that flying catastrophes can descend from the skies
04:32at any moment to strike. Russia can't operate in the Donetsk airport, knowing that Ukraine's
04:37drones are always ready to strike. What we're seeing here is precisely what the first separate
04:41unmanned systems center claims. A world first will be studied for years to come. An asymmetric approach
04:47to neutralizing bases and making them unusable for the enemy. Serafim Hordienko, who goes by the
04:52callsign Falco and is a commander, who is involved in the planning of this unique operation, explains.
04:58Fire control over Donetsk airport is an example of an asymmetric operation in which relatively small
05:03forces disrupted the enemy's operational strategic plans, Hordienko proclaims. Ukraine is effectively
05:09taking out every scrap of infrastructure that Russia has set up at Donetsk airport. That equipment
05:14makes the base function. Without it, Russia just has some airfields and hangars that it can't use
05:19without being blown up. Putin will be hoping for a reprieve. He and his generals will look toward past
05:25attacks against the Donetsk airport and hope that what Ukraine is doing now mirrors those strikes.
05:29Back in March, Ukraine used a combination of storm shadow or scalp missiles and US-made
05:34attackums to hit the airport, damaging a launch site used for Shahid drones. Before that,
05:39in both November and December 2025, Ukraine had struck drone storage facilities at Donetsk airport.
05:44So it's not like Ukraine hasn't hit this vital Russian base before. But this time is different.
05:50These earlier strikes were isolated. Damaging, yes, but Russia knew that once the attack was over,
05:55it could get back to the business of using Donetsk airport to hurt Ukraine.
05:59That isn't the case anymore. Ukraine's strategy has evolved. What was once a strategy of jabbing
06:04Russia in the face and then backing off has become a whirling dervish of haymakers being flung at the
06:09defenseless Donetsk airport. These aren't solitary strikes anymore. They're systematic, calculated.
06:15Over and over, Ukraine hits the airport. A key Donbass battlefield has fallen out of Russia's
06:20control. An airport that has been an early symbol of the fighting in Ukraine ever since Russia
06:24launched its campaign of aggression in 2014 is no longer safe. Russia has managed to control Donetsk
06:30airport for over a decade. Now it no longer does. Not long ago, the occupiers felt safe there and
06:36were planning terrorist attacks on our cities. From now on, we have turned Donetsk airport into a trap
06:41for the enemy, the first separate unmanned systems center says in its statement. But Donetsk airport
06:46is not just a trap. It's becoming a hellscape as Ukraine isn't going to stop. Fire control has been
06:52established. Now Ukraine is on the hunt. But before we tell you what happens next and why
06:57Ukraine pulling off yet another world first is such a game-changer in this war, this is a quick
07:01reminder that you are watching the military show. If you're getting insight from the channel,
07:05make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don't miss what we have coming next. The first
07:10separate unmanned systems center statement was capped with a chilling threat. It is impossible
07:14to hide and defend yourselves. Ukraine is already proving that this statement isn't just bluster.
07:20With fire control established, Ukraine's drones are on the hunt for anything and everything Russian
07:24at the airport. Fire groups that are supposed to be protecting the Donetsk airport are now having
07:28to deal with Ukraine's drones. The same goes for Russia's mobile air defense units, which utterly failed
07:34to prevent the wave of attacks that granted Ukraine the fire control and are now being destroyed to
07:38ensure that more of Ukraine's drones can arrive to turn the airport into a hellscape for Russia.
07:43Flight operations are already being cancelled. Activities at the Donetsk airport are being cut
07:48back due to the constant threat that Ukraine's drones pose. This is brilliant and brutal by Ukraine.
07:53First, Ukraine established drone-based fire control. Now it's using those very same weapons to
07:58ensure that this control is maintained. For Putin, this is terrible for his plans in Donetsk.
08:02Ukraine is at the point where it can systematically degrade the infrastructure at Donetsk airport,
08:07and there's not much that Russia can do about it except watch as key assets are blown up.
08:11This is a nightmare for Putin on the Donetsk front. As Medusa reported on June 6th,
08:17Putin is still trying to claim that Russian troops are advancing on every single front.
08:21Putin is lying. The push for Kramatorsk, which is one of the Donetsk fortress belt cities,
08:25is practically at a standstill. Now Medusa says analysts are suggesting that Ukraine will likely
08:30hold the city through the rest of 2026. That's not exactly great for Putin, considering he's had
08:35a deadline of September 2026 for the complete collapse of the Donbass. Donetsk has to fall for
08:41that collapse to happen. And right now it's looking like Russia won't even take one of the four
08:46fortress belt cities that it needs by the end of the year. Now think about what Ukraine's obtaining
08:51fire control over the Donetsk airport really means for Russia. Ukraine isn't going to stop the
08:57systematic destruction of everything that Russia has built up at the base is next on the agenda.
09:01Ukraine is going to keep hunting, unrelenting, unstoppable. The drones will fly and the
09:07infrastructure will burn until there's nothing left at the airport. One way or another, Ukraine will
09:11win. Either the drones destroy everything or Russia withdraws. There is no good scenario for Putin here.
09:18On the front, Putin's forces will feel the pain. Those forces are already dying in record numbers to
09:23gain just the smallest scraps of territory. May was a particularly bad month. According to the Guardian,
09:29Russia took just 14 square kilometers of Ukraine in May, despite raising the number of offensives
09:34it conducted by 37.5%. In return for those paltry gains, Russia sacrificed over 30,000 of its soldiers,
09:42Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an open letter to Putin published in June. Of those
09:47casualties, 63% are deaths, while only 37% are injuries. That's the situation right now.
09:55Throw Ukraine taking fire control over the Donetsk airport into the mix and you have a horror show
10:00for Russia's soldiers at the front. They won't be getting drone support anymore. The Donetsk airport
10:04launch sites are being destroyed. Reserves and supplies can't flow through the airport anymore,
10:09leaving Putin's patsies as little more than meat to be fed into the grinder. Even if Russia comes up with
10:14alternative routes, the delays that Ukraine's brutal strategy ensures, means that these alternatives
10:19won't mean much to the troops being ordered to assault Ukraine's positions in Donetsk. The numbers
10:24are only going to get bigger from here on out and none of them will make for good reading for
10:27Putin.
10:28An already glacial advance will come to a standstill. And that brings us nicely to why all of this matters
10:34for the Ukraine war. Let's focus on drones. Ukraine hasn't pulled off a world first at the Donetsk
10:39airport for no reason. The entire point was to shatter a key logistical node that has proven
10:44itself to be increasingly vital for Russia's strategy of unleashing drones against Ukraine's
10:49defenses and cities. However, the airport has also become increasingly important as a drone
10:54center for Russia in recent months. In March, Militani reported that Russia had started construction
10:59work at the Donetsk airport. New hangars were being built, likely to serve as storage facilities
11:04for Russia's drones. Satellite photographs revealed that there were 11 new buildings under construction in
11:09just one location. And in another, close to taxiway C1 at the airport, another facility
11:14was being built, possibly to serve as a launch pad or garage for Russian drones.
11:19That work uncoincidentally began after the Ukrainian missile strikes that we mentioned earlier,
11:24which wiped out several of Russia's drone storage facilities at the airport. And what it
11:28shows us is that Russia was still extremely active at the airport just a few months before Ukraine
11:32established fire control. By June 2nd, Russia had created more than 130 shelters and garages
11:38specifically for drones. Other facilities were still under construction when Ukraine sent in drones
11:43of its own. Don't underestimate how vital drone strikes are to Putin's strategy for Ukraine.
11:49As his soldiers fail to advance in any meaningful way on the ground, Putin has increasingly relied on
11:55Shahid drones to cause damage to Ukraine in the rear and across the front. May was the perfect
12:00example of that. France 24 reports that Russia fired 8,150 drones at Ukraine in May. That was a
12:06monthly record that came on the back of several other record-breaking months. Ukraine did a good
12:11job of stifling Russia's drone assault, intercepting 91% of those launched. The same outlet reports.
12:16However, what we're now seeing at the Donetsk airport is Ukraine taking a different approach.
12:20It will still destroy drones in the air, but if Ukraine can take out the source, Russia's
12:25drones become less of a problem. The Donetsk airport had become a major source of drone
12:29strikes for Russia. Now it's being rendered useless as Ukraine's fire control will force
12:34Russia's forces so far back that they either won't be able to launch drones or they'll have
12:38to launch in lower volumes due to not having a solid launch site in place. Either way, that's a
12:42win for Ukraine. Looking at this through a wider lens, we also see that Ukraine's campaign against
12:47Russia's logistical backbone has levelled up. The campaign has already been causing major problems
12:52for Putin in recent weeks. On May 30th, the BBC reported that Ukraine's military has started to use
12:58AI-powered drones to conduct strikes against Russian supply vehicles, many of which were
13:03driving on routes connecting Russia to occupied Crimea. The BBC verified 14 strikes, but there have
13:08been many more than that. Ukraine has created a highway to hell in the occupied territories by
13:13absolutely hammering the R-280 land corridor between Russia and Crimea. A logistical lockdown,
13:18as Ukraine calls it, is in play, and it's hurting Russia all over the front. The Donetsk airport is
13:23just another example of this lockdown strategy. Now that Ukraine has middle-range drones and is
13:28confident in the strength of its fortifications and kill zones on the front, it can focus on
13:32hurting Russia in the rear. Remember that Russia is the invading force here. It needs its logistical
13:37network to run as efficiently as possible to keep the pressure on Ukraine. When nodes like the Donetsk
13:42airport come under Ukraine's fire control, we start to see Russia lose control on the front. That's
13:47already evident in the remarkably slow rate of advance that we've already mentioned. But nothing is going to
13:52plan for Putin right now. Ukraine is pulling off feats with its drones that will be studied for years,
13:57and it's doing it in Crimea, Donetsk, and even inside Russia, as we saw on the eve of the St.
14:02Petersburg International Economic Forum, when Ukraine sent drones to strike oil terminals and
14:07facilities in Putin's hometown as a reminder that the war is still very much being brought to Russia.
14:12All of this gives Putin an even bigger problem than the loss of the Donetsk airport would suggest.
14:17Russia's leader is running out of options, which means that he's losing leverage.
14:21On the options front, Ukraine gaining fire control over Donetsk airport is going to be another major
14:26contributor to the standstill that now impacts the Russian army on the ground. As his troops are
14:31being churned up, all that Putin has left in his arsenal are drones and missiles. That's why we've
14:36seen record-breaking numbers of drones launched at Ukraine in May. Even though over 90% of those
14:41drones are being intercepted, Russia has to launch them in such massive numbers to stand any chance of
14:45doing damage to Ukraine. Putin's forces have also started to rely more heavily on ballistic missiles in
14:51recent months for the same reason. But that's not a sustainable strategy. Russia is already
14:55dealing with an air defense missile drought, as it struggles to produce enough defensive missiles
14:59while dealing with the weight of Western sanctions and Ukraine's long-range drone strikes. Boosting the
15:04ballistic missile aspect of its long-range strategy may work for Russia in the short term, but it also
15:09means that Putin is burning through stockpiles that can't be easily replaced. Once those stockpiles
15:14dwindle, we'll be back to the lower levels of launches while Ukraine continues to cripple Russia
15:18in the rear. Ultimately, this means that Putin has no leverage. He can't crow about gains in Ukraine
15:24because there are none. Just 14 square kilometers taken in a month shows that Russia's offensive is
15:29falling apart. Ukraine will keep on hitting the rear harder and harder. The Donetsk airport being under
15:34fire control wounds Russia, but Ukraine is going to twist the knife as it strikes deeper into Donetsk and
15:39continues its Crimean campaign. Putin wants the world to believe that Ukraine is weak. But the
15:45evidence is there for all to see that not only does Ukraine have plenty of fight left, but that it's
15:49getting stronger in key aspects of the war. Don't get us wrong, Putin will continue to talk as though
15:55Russia is winning the war. He may not even realize that things are as bad for Russia as they are
15:59in Donetsk.
16:00In a June 5th report, the Institute for the Study of War pointed out that Putin is refusing peace
16:05discussions because he believes that Russia is winning on the battlefield. Those claims aren't
16:09compatible with what's really happening, which suggests that Putin is being fed false information
16:14by his military commanders about the state of his forces in Donetsk. Putin might not even know
16:18that Ukraine has fire control over the Donetsk airport. He spent his career surrounding himself
16:23with yes-men who are now too terrified to deliver the wake-up call that Putin needs.
16:27All the while, Ukraine continues to expand its air game. Naval vessels, railway infrastructure,
16:32air defenses, and now entire airports are on the menu for Ukraine. That's the game-changing difference
16:37that a new generation of middle-range strike drones has made. Putin may not be aware of it. He may
16:42continue to order assaults as though his entire invasion isn't falling apart. But eventually,
16:47all of this is going to come back to haunt Russia. We are already seeing the failure of Putin's spring
16:52and summer offensive in real time. But now that Ukraine has the blueprint for creating fire control
16:57over a base using nothing but drones, it's only going to get worse for Russia. Donetsk airport is just
17:03the starting point. Next up, the entire Russian rear. And the next time that Ukraine decides to
17:08strike in Donetsk, it may well use a never-before-seen weapon that has been key to the country's mid
17:13-range
17:13strategy in Crimea. The Morrigan drone is here. Inspired by the Celtic god of war, Ukraine's drone
17:19is crippling Russia's Crimean logistics and drawing ever closer to liberating the peninsula. Find out more
17:25in our video. And if you enjoyed this video, remember to subscribe to The Military Show
17:29to see how Ukraine is turning the tide against Russia in 2026. And thank you for watching.
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