Lead

A Russian unmanned aircraft expert has told the Russian state news agency TASS that drones used in recent attacks on the Moscow Region were assembled through the cooperation of NATO member states. Dmitry Kuzyakin, an expert in unmanned aircraft systems and chief designer at the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions, spoke to TASS in two interviews published on June 26 and 27.

Coverage Comparison

TASS, the only outlet whose reporting was reviewed, published two articles featuring Kuzyakin's statements. The first, dated June 26, focused on what it described as a "record-breaking series" of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory and the increasing role of European countries in producing strike UAVs for Ukraine. The second, dated June 27, addressed the specific claim about NATO cooperation in assembling the drones and identified a Turkish-made navigation system used in the devices.

Key Claims

Kuzyakin said that the frequency and scale of drone assaults against Russia are expected to increase. "The number of drones launched in a single wave, as well as the number of waves per week, will only increase. As the enemy becomes more saturated with strike weapons, it will expand its target range," he told TASS. He added that Europe is "just beginning to ramp up the production of long-range strike drones," with no significant funding constraints and a surplus of unemployed engineers, which he said would lead to a "substantial boost in production."

The expert claimed that Ukraine no longer hosts significant large-scale UAV manufacturing facilities and that, since late 2025, Ukrainian armed forces have begun to relocate drone production to the European Union and Baltic states. He named Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania as countries "actively participating in this drone arms race against Russia." According to Kuzyakin, these drones are produced under civilian regulations similar to commercial drones, and are therefore "not subject to the strict restrictions associated with military weapons manufacturing laws." He said the EU legally has no barriers preventing such production to support Ukrainian military efforts.

Regarding the Moscow attacks, Kuzyakin said that "of the more than five hundred drones launched against us by the enemy on June 18, only a handful reached their targets." He said the remaining drones were shot down over the European part of Russia, and that wreckage was being examined to reconstruct the characteristics of the devices.

The expert identified the multi-channel navigation system used in the drones as the TUALAJ 8300 GPS/GNSS Anti-Jam CRPA System, a Turkish-made unit that he said remained in near-perfect condition after being struck by an air-defense missile. Through this component, he said, the manufacturer was identified — a company headquartered in Ankara with representative offices worldwide, which operates as a contractor on NATO defense contracts and supplies "everything necessary to manufacture long-range drones for strikes against Russia."

TASS reported that Russian air defenses intercepted and shot down 660 Ukrainian UAVs over Russian regions on June 26. Separately, the agency cited Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin as saying that more than 190 drones were shot down as they approached the city during the June 18 attack, which it described as the largest on the Moscow Region in two years.

Perspectives

Russian expert

Dmitry Kuzyakin, cited by TASS, presents the drone attacks as an escalation involving European and NATO support, claiming that drone production for Ukraine has shifted to EU and Baltic states and that NATO cooperation facilitated the assembly of the drones used against Moscow.

Russian officials

The statements attributed to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin in the TASS report provide official Russian figures on the number of drones shot down near Moscow, framing the event as a large-scale attack.

Ukrainian and NATO perspective

No direct Ukrainian or NATO response to these claims was included in the reviewed material.