Ukraine Launched A Hunt For Air Defense Systems Near Putin's Palace
- 10.08.2026, 18:47
It is located 20 kilometers from Gelendzhik.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are systematically destroying Russian air defense systems in the Gelendzhik area, where Putin’s “palace” is located. On August 7, the “Volna-Kupol-Garant” electronic warfare system was destroyed near the facility, and two days later, a nearby S-400 anti-aircraft missile system was also destroyed, according to The Moscow Times.
Satellite images confirmed the destruction of the electronic warfare system located on the grounds of Military Unit No. 2156. “Volna Kupol Garant” is used to jam Starlink satellite communications, providing protection for an area of 20 km². According to military analyst Yan Matveev, the system is effective against drones, but its drawback is that it is the size of a “small military base and easily identifiable from the air.”
The destruction of the electronic warfare system cleared the way for Ukrainian drones to reach the S-400, located 500 meters away. The commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Unmanned Systems Forces Robert Brovdi (“Madyar”) reported that they struck the air defense system, which had launched six missiles at once, on the night of August 9. The fire on the S-400 lasted three hours. “A satellite image shows the destruction of at least one launcher… That’s it—now Putin’s ‘palace’ is left unprotected,” says Matveev.
Putin’s “palace” is located on the Black Sea coast, about 20 km from Gelendzhik. The 17,700-square-meter complex gained widespread notoriety following an investigation by Alexei Navalny , founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation . According to his information, the property features a church, a hockey rink, a movie theater, a karaoke and hookah lounge, a beer hall, a billiards room, several restaurants, a swimming pool, an aqua disco, a spa center, saunas, Turkish baths, its own meat, fish, vegetable, and dessert production facilities, a therapeutic mud storage facility, a library, a music lounge, a helipad, and so on.
A no-fly zone has been established over the “palace,” and the 7,000 hectares adjacent to it, as claimed in the investigation, belong to the FSB. The FBK estimated the cost of constructing the complex at a minimum of 100 billion rubles.