Satellite images of the shore of Lake Donuzlav near the village of Novoozerne in the temporarily occupied Crimea have appeared online. They show what appears to be russia's first naval drone port, whose design bears some resemblance to the drone ports used to launch Shahed drones.
In particular, the photos show structures resembling hangars. It consists of an underground shelter dug into the shore, protected by sand embankments on the sides and covered with camouflage netting.
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A dirt road leads to each hide, allowing personnel to access the site and USVs to be transported there. Inside such a hide, USVs can be launched, prepared, and temporarily stored, ready for deployment.
Other infrastructure supporting the drone port is likely located near these hides. In particular, this includes warehouses, workshops for maintaining and preparing the drones for sea operations, antenna systems for communications, and other facilities.
OSINT analyst H I Sutton counted a total of 21 such hides along the shoreline of Lake Donuzlav based on the latest satellite images. He also notes that construction of these shelters began in February this year, meaning the drone port could already be operational.
In response to Ukrainian USVs, russians began developing their own unmanned boats in 2022. However, the lack of a full-fledged equivalent to Starlink significantly complicated and slowed down this process. However, since 2025, reports of russian USVs being deployed have become increasingly frequent, and their number continues to grow.
Given the emergence of what appears to be the first naval drone port in Crimea, russians will likely begin attacking ships in the Black Sea more frequently, as well as the Ukrainian coast, ports, and coastal cities such as Odesa and Mykolaiv.
Although russian USVs lag significantly behind their Ukrainian counterparts in technology, performance, and capabilities, they can still cause serious damage. Destroying this drone port is no easier than destroying a conventional drone port used to launch Shaheds.
However, Ukraine has the means to respond to this threat and has long been preparing to counter it. Ukraine uses USVs specially equipped to hunt down russian ones.
The Security Service of Ukraine began preparing for this threat as early as 2024, and last year unveiled a new generation of Sea Baby unmanned surface vehicles. One of them was heavily armed and clearly equipped to serve as a maritime interceptor.
For this mission, the vehicle was equipped with a stabilized Tavria 14.5 combat module featuring a 14.5-mm KPVT machine gun, along with two FPV drones in their respective mounts.
Therefore, we may soon witness the first naval battles involving unmanned surface vehicles. In this regard, Ukrainian USVs and their operators will have an undeniable advantage while remaining technologically on par with their russian counterparts.
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