Map Shows Russia's New Secret Bases That Could Strike NATO
NATO officials say Russia could be able to launch a limited attack on the alliance in the next few years—or even later this year.
A recent report suggests that Russia has constructed at least ten covert locations capable of deploying long-range drones into NATO territory, following warnings from alliance officials about a potential limited attack on alliance soil this fall. According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, dozens of new launch rails have been installed at bases along the Russian border with Belarus and Ukraine.
These launch rails could be used to launch fixed-wing drones for missions or attacks, with at least 20 of them being capable of firing Russia's most advanced long-range attack drones, according to analysts from DroneSec, an intelligence firm that analyzed satellite imagery of the sites. Most of these sites are situated in remote countryside or integrated into military bases or airports, and were recently used to target Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
Russia has repeatedly denied plans to attack NATO territory, dismissing the claims as "nonsense." The Russian Defense Ministry was contacted for comment via email. Drone warfare has been intensified by four and a half years of full-scale war in Ukraine, with both Kyiv and Moscow competing for an advantage in the drone race, a contest NATO countries are closely monitoring.
Russia is known for deploying Iranian-designed Shahed drones against Ukraine, including the homegrown Russian variant, Geran-2. However, Ukrainian intelligence claims the Kremlin is rapidly producing upgraded jet-powered Geran-4 and Geran-5 attack drones, with Russia's Yelabuga plant reportedly manufacturing around 3,000 such drones monthly.
These sophisticated drones, manufactured in a facility in Russia's Tatarstan region, reportedly have a range of around 1,000 kilometers, potentially putting NATO soil hundreds of miles from the alliance's eastern edge within range. The expansion of this drone launch site infrastructure demonstrates Russia's increased ability to launch larger numbers of drones while simultaneously enhancing the technology used to make the drones more challenging to intercept, according to DroneSec CEO Mike Monnik.
Instances of drones and missiles breaching NATO airspace have frequently occurred since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, often prompting fighter jets stationed in border countries to scramble and sometimes shoot down unmanned vehicles originating from the conflict. Concerns have been heightened following at least 20 drones crossing into Poland in September 2025, prompting NATO officials to accuse Russia of testing the alliance's response to an attack.
These tensions have escalated further with a Russian cruise missile crashing in eastern Poland last month, near its border with Ukraine. These airspace violations come at a challenging time for Europe as it questions the U.S.'s commitment to protecting the continent. U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have criticized Europe for decades of inadequate defense spending and its dependence on tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Europe, as the Pentagon evaluates its deployment strategy in the region.
Germany's highest-ranking military officer, General Carsten Breuer, stated that Moscow is using drones to gauge the reaction of NATO air defenses to such breaches, describing hybrid attacks as daily occurrences in NATO countries. Hybrid attacks encompass a range of operations that fall short of open warfare, including cyberattacks, information campaigns, arson incidents, or the targeting of vulnerable infrastructure like undersea cables.
NATO attributes Russia's engagement in hybrid warfare with the alliance to years of such activities, but a large-scale attack on NATO is deemed highly unlikely. Instead, alliance officials suggest Russia might execute a smaller, exploratory military operation against a Baltic state or Poland to assess NATO's response or escalate its hybrid assaults.
The Kremlin could potentially aim to seize a limited portion of NATO territory or carry out more significant hybrid attacks on the alliance as early as September this year, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment cited by The Wall Street Journal. However, NATO countries are also preparing for the possibility of Russian tanks entering a Baltic state.
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