Kyiv, Ukraine – Russian Aerospace Forces (RAF) chief Aleksandr Chayko barely survived a blast that killed his son-in-law. Chayko, who turned 55 in the last week of July, was reportedly having a belated birthday party on August 1 at a high-end Italian restaurant in central Moscow. But the celebration was cut short, as an unidentified woman carrying a homemade bomb tried to enter the restaurant.
She was stopped by a security guard, according to Russia. The explosive in her bag detonated, killing at least five people. The Kremlin did not confirm the casualties, but blamed the attack on the “bloody tentacles” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.
Chayko helped lead Russia’s intervention in Syria and commanded Russian forces north of Kyiv in early 2022. In May, President Vladimir Putin appointed him commander-in-chief of the RAF that controls the military component of Russia’s space programme. The RAF’s satellites and ground-space facilities have been used for gathering intelligence, navigation, and supporting the coordination of ground troops and drone and missile attacks.
These facilities are located mostly in western Russia, and new Ukrainian long-range drones and missiles are capable of striking them. In late June, Ukrainian drones hit the giant space communications centre in the leafy, tranquil town of Dubna outside Moscow that managed reconnaissance satellites and processed military data. The strike damaged a 32-metre (105-foot) satellite antenna, hardware modular complexes, central control consoles and technical buildings.
Russian authorities said an unspecified building in Dubna was damaged and a six-month-old baby died. Ukrainian drones also struck three smaller space communication centres in western Russia and annexed Crimea. So far, there have been no signs that the satellites lost orbit or became unmanageable, but “behind the scenes there are for sure serious communication problems”, Zak said.
On August 23, swarms of Ukrainian drones flew more than 1,800km (1,120 miles) to reach Russia’s northwestern Arkhangelsk region. Some 40 drones were downed, regional authorities claimed, but at least two reached the area near Plesetsk, Russia’s military cosmodrome, or spaceport, and launchpad for intercontinental ballistic missiles and rockets carrying military satellites. A day later, Roscosmos, the state-run space corporation, reported the successful launch of a rocket with unnamed “military satellites”.
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