Partisan sabotage forced an emergency shutdown of drone production at Russian defense plant, ATESH claims

Pro-Ukrainian partisan movement ATESH says its agents damaged an electrical substation in the Russian city of Taganrog, disrupting power supplies to a defense enterprise involved in the production of military drones for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

According to a statement released by the group on 20 June, the operation targeted a substation supplying electricity to the Atlant-Aero plant, a defense manufacturer that ATESH says participates in the production of several Russian unmanned aerial systems.

ATESH says power disruption halted production lines

ATESH alleges that damage to the substation interrupted stable power supplies to the facility, forcing an emergency shutdown of manufacturing processes.

The group says Atlant-Aero is involved in the full production cycle of Molniya strike-reconnaissance drones, as well as the manufacture of components for the larger Orion drone system and control systems used for FPV drones deployed by Russian forces.

According to the statement, the loss of power disrupted ongoing assembly and testing work, temporarily halting operations in key workshops.

“Without reliable power supply, the plant cannot continue assembling unmanned systems and manufacturing electronics for new batches of drones for the occupation forces,” ATESH said.

Russian drone industry under growing pressure

Russia has expanded domestic drone production throughout the war, relying on a network of state-owned and private defense enterprises to manufacture strike drones, reconnaissance systems, electronic components, and control equipment.

Ukrainian forces and resistance groups have increasingly sought to target facilities linked to military production, arguing that disruptions to manufacturing chains can reduce Russia’s ability to sustain operations on the battlefield.

Taganrog, located in Russia’s Rostov Oblast near the Ukrainian border and behind occupied Donetsk Oblast, hosts several industrial and defense-related enterprises that support the country’s military sector and serves as a gateway into occupied territory.

ATESH: partisan network operating inside Russia and occupied territories

ATESH is a clandestine resistance movement that says it operates inside Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine as well as within Russia itself.

The group conducts reconnaissance and sabotage operations targeting military facilities, transport infrastructure, logistics hubs, communications systems, and other assets it says support Russia’s war effort against Ukraine.

ATESH frequently publishes claims of attacks on rail infrastructure, military equipment, fuel depots, and defense enterprises through its Telegram channels. The movement also claims to have agents embedded within Russian military units, providing intelligence on troop movements, equipment concentrations, and logistics networks.

Many of the group’s claims are difficult to independently verify due to operational security concerns and limited access to the affected sites.

Previous claimed operation targeted rare railway recovery crane

On 7 June, the group said its agents destroyed an EDK-300/5 heavy railway recovery crane at a station in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast. ATESH described the equipment as an “extremely rare” system used to restore rail traffic after major accidents and infrastructure damage.

The movement claimed the loss would reduce Russia’s ability to rapidly repair disruptions at key railway junctions, potentially affecting logistics flows across parts of the rail network.