(MOSCOW) – Russia has begun covering its nuclear submarines with anti-drone netting at naval bases in the Far East, more than 4,000 miles from Ukraine, as Kyiv’s expanding long-range strike capabilities force Moscow to take extraordinary precautions to protect its most critical strategic assets.
Satellite images taken this week show submarines at Kamchatka and Vladivostok covered in protective netting, according to analysis by Jake Broe, a United States Air Force veteran who served as a Nuclear and Missile Operations Officer, in a video report published by The Sun on 14th August 2026.
The images reveal the extent of Russian concern following Operation Spiderweb nearly a year ago, when Moscow lost a third of its strategic bomber fleet to relatively cheap drones. That attack has left the Russian military command rightly paranoid about losing its nuclear submarine force, Broe said.
The vulnerability is not unique to Russia. Every advanced military in the world with aircraft carriers, submarines or battleships in dry dock or harbour will face similar threats going forward, as first person view drones and autonomous AI drones become increasingly capable.
“If Ukraine wants to prioritise this and allocate some resources, they could probably get some drones out there and punch some holes in these very valuable submarines,” Broe said.
The satellite images were released as Broe assessed that the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is at his weakest point, despite maintaining tight control over the Russian population and state apparatus. This control, Broe argued, can only be maintained in wartime through the use of fear.
There is speculation of a mass mobilisation following the Russian State Duma elections scheduled for 21st September 2026. Intelligence chatter suggests Putin may attempt a provocation somewhere in the Baltics or possibly Poland.
“The theory is that Putin is trying to provoke a reaction,” Broe said. “He wants NATO to respond. He wants a NATO plane to bomb some Russian people somewhere to give him the justification to go to the Russian people and say, ‘We’ve been attacked. We need to mobilise 500,000 men and send them to Ukraine to get this war done.'”
Broe questioned whether anyone remembers the original justifications for the war, now five years into the full-scale invasion. “At this point, it’s just a land grab,” he said.
The Russian dictator is reportedly telling the Trump administration that Moscow will not discuss a ceasefire until it controls the remainder of Donetsk Oblast. Russia has been attempting to conquer this single oblast for 15 years, yet has still failed to take cities such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk after five years of full-scale war.
“This war is only going to end one way and it’s going to end when either Putin dies or Putin is removed from power,” Broe said. He described Putin as “the greatest mass murderer of the 21st century” and suggested such a path rarely ends peacefully.
Broe dismissed the possibility of a palace coup, describing Putin’s inner circle as “all craven and cowards” who live in fear of being purged by the FSB. The wealthiest men in Russia only retain their wealth and positions because Putin allows them to continue existing.
The more credible threat, according to Broe, comes from figures farther to the right of Putin who demand escalation, including nuclear strikes on Ukraine and immediate mass mobilisation. These factions view Putin as too weak, pointing to his failure to fire General Gerasimov despite five years of unsuccessful war execution.
“This was comparable to Prigozhin’s rebellion,” Broe said, referencing the 2023 mutiny. “Somebody more extreme, more violent, more deadly replacing Putin to properly execute this war.”
A popular uprising remains theoretically possible but unlikely, Broe argued, because insufficient numbers of young Russians believe change is achievable. He compared the scenario to the Arab Spring of 2012, which brought down Gaddafi and other Middle Eastern dictators who had held power for decades.
Putin has built what Broe described as “a dystopian security state” in which anyone with subversive or rebellious thoughts is found immediately and either pushed into the military, imprisoned, fined or silenced.
Beyond political threats, Broe noted the passage of time itself. Putin is now in his mid-seventies and appears in poor health. “Cancer could get him, heart attack could get him, stroke could get him,” Broe said. “Beyond that, there’s always the concern that somebody in his security detail or a random assassination. But no, this war is never going to end until Putin is dead or removed from power.”
Broe also highlighted a recent Ukrainian operation that destroyed an S400 air defence system south of Nova Asis, near Putin’s Black Sea palace. Ukraine has developed drone carrier boats capable of sailing into the Black Sea and launching radio-controlled drones.
“These smaller air launch drones are just too small for Russian radar systems to pick up, let alone for an S400 to attempt to shoot down,” Broe said. “This is Russia’s premier air defence system being annihilated by some pretty incredible technology that Ukraine is currently pioneering.”
The operation was announced by the Maurus Birds unit, which released video footage showing the destruction of the S400 system, along with a Pantsir system, a Tor system, a Kasta radar and another radar system.
Broe noted that Russia has been losing one or two air defence systems every day for years. The Russian defence industry was producing approximately 20 air defence systems per month during the war, but Ukraine is destroying them faster than they can be replaced.
“Russia has vast territory and they just simply can’t protect everything,” Broe said.
While a drone strike on Putin’s palace would provide a psychological boost, Broe argued that Ukraine’s military command is unlikely to waste limited assets on purely symbolic targets. Better targets exist in the form of air defence systems and other valid military objectives.
“If this causes Putin to lose some sleep or spend resources to protect his luxury palaces, then that benefits Ukraine,” Broe said.
The analysis was published on Jake Broe’s YouTube channel and featured by The Sun on 14th August 2026.
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