Putin unveils 'world's largest drone factory' as Ukraine awaits Patriot Missiles from US

Russia has started domestic mass production of the Shahed-136 drones, which were once imported from Iran. On Sunday, a Russian-state TV channel released a 10-minute video of the factory where the Iranian drones were being made. The video showed individuals, allegedly teenagers, some as young as 14, involved in the manufacturing process.

The video was released days after Donald Trump gave a 50-day deadline to Putin to return to peace negotiations or risk facing sanctions.

The clip, broadcast by Russian defence ministry’s TV channel Zvezda, showed the Yelabuga drone factory, which is located in the western Russian region of Tatarstan—around 600 miles from the Ukrainian border.

The domestic version of the Iranian Shahed-136 drone has been named the Geran 2. The video showed numerous matte-black Geran-2 munitions lined up inside what Russia claims is the world’s biggest drone factory.

According to experts, these drones are intentionally painted in matte-black to help Russia carry out stealth attacks against Ukraine at the night.

Experts claim that Russia is looking to scale up its drone production to launch 2,000 drones in one overnight strike against Ukraine.

Russia launching 1,000 drones per week

According to a US-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Russia has averaged over 1,000 drone launches per week since mid-February, when Trump started pushing for a truce. This is a five-fold increase from a year ago.

In a single night in June, Russia launched 479 Shahed-type drones toward Ukrainian cities.

An investigation by the Associated Press revealed Russia’s motive behind scaling up drone production. Dubbed ‘Operation False Target’, Russia seeks to create decoy drones to overwhelm Ukrainian radar systems.

The Iranian version of the Shaheds can fly more than 1,000 miles, often under radar. Though they are slow and loud and easy to target using conventional air defences, they are still effective.

A wave of hundreds of explosive-laden Shaheds can saturate any defence system, making it potent enough to overpower air radars with sheer numbers.

During the 12-day conflict with Israel, Iran’s suicide drones easily bypassed Tel Aviv’s famed Irone Dome Air Defence system.

The Russian version comes with the same configuration, but it has cameras, anti-jamming systems and AI-assisted navigation.

Russia has also tweaked the Iranian version to improve strike capabilities.

Easy to build Shahed drones

The Shaheds are also cheap to manufacture. It costs as little as $50,000—about as much as a BMW car.

The easy manoeuvrability makes the Shaheds a threat to not only military targets, but also power stations, water plants, and residential neighbourhoods.

And the Ukrainians acknowledge this. The country’s intelligence has warned that the deployment of Shahehds is making Russian attacks deadlier.

In June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the proliferation of Shahed manufacturing could pose a global threat.

In a post on Telegram, he said it was "extremely dangerous for both Europe and for East and Southeast Asia.”

Zelensky called on the international community to address the threat immediately, before "thousands of upgraded ‘Shahed’ drones and ballistic missiles begin to threaten Seoul and Tokyo.”

Zelensky’s comments came after The Associated Press published a report analysing the rising success rate of Russian drone strikes.

The accuracy of drones hitting targets in Ukraine surged to 16% in June 2025 compared to about 6% in late 2024. On some nights, nearly half of the drones launched by Moscow reached their destination.

The UK Ministry of Defence noted Russia’s increasing use of drones at both high and low altitudes -- high altitudes to evade small arms fire and low altitudes to avoid radar detection.

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Experts believe that these shifting tactics, combined with upgraded hardware, are straining Ukraine’s ability to respond.

That's why Ukraine wants US President Donald Trump to supply the Patriot Air Defense systems on an urgent basis.

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“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday.

“Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,” Trump said, adding, "So, there’s a little bit of a problem there. I don’t like it.”

Trump said he had not decided on the number of Patriot batteries he would send to Ukraine, but “they’re going to have some because they do need protection”.

Trump’s comments come after he confirmed last week that his administration had decided to sell weapons to NATO allies in Europe for them to pass on to Kyiv.