Russian teenagers man ‘world’s biggest drone factory’ used to attack Ukraine, state media shows

Russian teenagers are helping the country build its new line of suicide UAVs used to strike Ukraine in what Moscow officials have dubbed the “world’s biggest drone factory.”

Footage from inside the Yelabuga production plant shows Russian students lined up as they help assemble the killer drones and study their internal mechanisms, according to Zvezda, the Russian army’s TV channel.

The state-run outlet touted that teens as young as 14 are invited to study and work at the factory, creating a pipeline that would see them employed at the drone facility once they finish college — fulfilling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal of ramping up the country’s attack against Ukraine.

The footage from inside the factory highlighted the in-house assembly line that puts the drones together from start to finish, with the army station showing the UAVs lifting off from the back of US RAM pickup trucks.

As it celebrated the factory, the station claimed that Putin was pleased with the results and called for its success to be replicated across the country.

The documentary specifically showed the young workers and other staffers completing countless Geran-2 drones, which are modeled after Iran’s Shahed suicide aircraft.

The Shaheds had served as Russia’s primary weapon to attack Ukraine miles past the border, but Moscow is now able to produce the relatively cheap drones in-house. Experts have put the cost of the drones somewhere between $20,000 and $50,000 per aircraft.

The Geran-2, which can fly as far as 932 miles, is now the lynchpin of Russia’s escalating bombardments against Ukraine ever since Moscow announced its mass production plans in 2023.

Timur Shagivaleyev, the factory’s general director, boasted that the workers at the Yelabuga plant have produced tens of thousands of new drones — nine times more than the “several thousand Geran-2 drones” originally promised to the state two years ago.

Shagivaleyev did not provide specific figures, nor did he say how many drones are currently being produced at the factory.

The Alabuga facility, which is part of the Special Economic Zone established in 2023, also has its own drone testing facility, Zvevda added.

The plant has been previously eyed by Ukraine as a target to halt Russia’s war machine, with one person killed after a Ukrainian drone was intercepted near the facility last month.

Drones have become the primary tool of war in the conflict that has spanned more than three years, with Ukraine and Russia firing hundreds of UAVs a day to target military and energy infrastructure.

Moscow, however, has been accused of using its drones to target civilians and residential areas, with schools and hospitals regularly under fire.

The Kremlin has also been accused by the United Nations and humanitarian groups of using its drones to hunt down civilians, including children, in Kherson, where residents describe their city as a “human safari” zone for Russian soldiers.

With Post wires