10 August 2026 , 20:19
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The Armed Forces of Ukraine are consistently destroying Russian air defense systems in the area of Gelendzhik, where Russian President Vladimir Putin’s "palace" is located. On August 7, the "Volna Kupol Garant" electronic warfare system was hit not far from the site, and two days later — the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system located nearby.
The destruction of the electronic warfare (EW) installation, located on the territory of military unit No. 2156, was confirmed by satellite imagery. "Volna Kupol Garant" is used to suppress Starlink satellite communications, providing protection for an area of 20 square kilometers. According to military analyst Yan Matveev, the system is effective against drones, however, its drawback is that it is the size of "a small military base and is easily identifiable from the air."
The destruction of the EW opened the path for Ukrainian drones to the S-400 located 500 meters away from it. The Commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Robert Brovdi ("Madyar"), stated that they hit the surface-to-air missile system, which had launched six missiles at once, on the night of August 9. The fire at the S-400 lasted for three hours. "The satellite image shows the destruction of at least one launcher... That’s it, now Putin’s ’palace’ is left without protection," Matveev says.
Putin’s "palace" is located on the Black Sea coast about 20 km from Gelendzhik. The complex, with an area of 17.7 thousand square meters, gained widespread notoriety after an investigation by the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Alexey Navalny. According to his data, the facility’s grounds include a church, an ice hockey rink, a cinema, a hookah-karaoke bar, a pub, a billiard room, several restaurants, a swimming pool, an aquadisco, a spa center, saunas, Turkish baths, proprietary meat-and-fish, vegetable, and dessert processing facilities, a therapeutic mud storage, a library, a music lounge, a helipad, and so on.
A no-fly zone has been established over the "palace", and the adjacent 7,000 hectares, as claimed in the investigation, belong to the FSB. The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) estimated the cost of building the complex at a minimum of 100 billion rubles.
Technology & Business Editor