The russian occupation forces in Crimea have lost several costly radar systems to a recent series of Ukrainian long-range strikes. Among them are the 96L6-AP radar from an S-400 SAM battery, the Utes-T air traffic control radar, and the MR-10M1 Mys-1 coastal radar.
Two more high-value targets have now joined this list. On August 31, the Prymary unit, operating under the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, released a video showing the attacks on two objects: one was a GLONASS satellite navigation system component housed under a radio-transparent dome, the other the massive RT-70 radio telescope (otherwise known as the P-2500). Both were reported destroyed.
Read more: Space Wars Continue: Ukraine Hits russian Satellite Communication Center in Yevpatoria
The RT-70 is a giant: its parabolic antenna measures 70 meters in diameter, the entire structure rises 86 meters, and it weighs around 5,000 tons. At first glance, the military significance of hitting a radio telescope might seem questionable — after all, such facilities are usually dedicated to scientific research of space. At least it was the case here, that is, until russia's 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea.
Immediately after that, the Yevpatoria Center for Long-Distance Space Communications was seized and turned into the 40th Separate Command and Measurement Complex of the Aerospace Forces (aka military unit 81415, or NIP-16). Moscow invested heavily in upgrading the facility, aiming to finish modernization by 2023.
Historically, the RT-70 was used to communicate with interplanetary missions to Venus and Mars and later supported scientific work on quasars, solar wind, and asteroids. After 2014, however, it was repurposed into a key element of GLONASS, russia's analog of GPS.
The center's role was openly described by its russian commanders. In 2017, Colonel Vinokurov boasted in an interview with russian media that by December 2014, they had already established a "jamming-resistant, autonomous information and computing system" capable of "tracking and correcting programmed and timed tasks for the GLONASS satellite navigation system." The RT-70's role in this process was to control the satellites, which raised the system's accuracy by 30%.
In 2021, his successor, Oleg Bykov, confirmed that the RT-70 was being modernized for satellite control and fitted with new spacecraft communication equipment.
The Ukrainian strike footage shows the explosive drone was directed at the very heart of the antenna — the Goliaf radio receiver, with a huge output of 200 kW, where final amplifiers, klystrons, and receivers sit.
Such equipment is not produced in batches. In Soviet Union times, each was made to order. Only two RT-70s were ever completed: in Crimea and Ussuriysk, while a third in Suffa, Uzbekistan, was abandoned. When the Yevpatoria RT-70 underwent repairs in 2011, new klystrons had to be manufactured almost from scratch at Moscow's NPP Toriy using decades-old blueprints.
This makes the attack not just a blow against russia's ability to control its satellite group but also an extremely expensive loss. Unlike mass-produced solutions, e.g. radars for the S-400 air defense systems, custom hardware of this kind cannot be replaced quickly or cheaply.
It's worth noting, though, that it wasn't the first attempt by Ukraine at targeting this center. The same 40th Complex was attacked in June 2024. Fitting the broader pattern, in May 2024 Ukraine launched a four-missile ATACMS strike on another space communications site near Alushta, destroying a TNA-200 antenna.
Read more: Satellite Proof: Ukrainian Strike Eliminates Two russian Helicopters at Simferopol Airport
