After Dubna, Vladimir: Ukraine Hits Second Russian Space Communications Center in Two Days

Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck another Russian space communications facility, hitting the Vladimir Space Communications Center in Russia’s Vladimir region just two days after a successful strike on the Dubna center near Moscow, Ukraine’s General Staff reported on June 24.

According to the General Staff, damage to two buildings at the Vladimir site was confirmed, followed by a fire.

The facility plays a role in “ensuring the functioning of satellite and deep-space communications systems used, in particular, in the interests of the security structures of the aggressor state,” Ukraine’s military said.

Defense Express noted that the latest strike appears to be part of a deliberate campaign against Russia’s satellite communications infrastructure, rather than an isolated attack.

According to the outlet, the likely target is Russia’s ability to use its Express geostationary communications satellites, which provide satellite internet services, including for military needs.

Two days earlier, Ukraine struck the Dubna Space Communications Center in the Moscow region. Defense Express reported that Dubna served as a central traffic hub for the Express satellite network and also helped control the satellites themselves.

The Vladimir center is also part of the Russian state-owned Satellite Communications Company. Until 2025, it had the status of a satellite communications station, but was upgraded to a full center only a year ago.

That means it likely began performing not only satellite control functions, but also hub or “teleport” functions for satellite traffic, Defense Express wrote.

It belongs to the same wider ground infrastructure network as Medvezhiy Ozera, Skolkovo, Zheleznogorsk, Khabarovsk, and Dubna.

Defense Express noted that Medvezhiy Ozera and Skolkovo are publicly described as specializing in satellite television broadcasting, leaving open the question of whether they can also function as satellite internet hubs. The outlet suggested that future strikes may help answer that question.

The Vladimir Space Communications Center reportedly has two main antenna complexes and no more than 10 separate structures on its territory.

Given the limited number of key objects at the site, Defense Express assessed that if Ukrainian specialists knew exactly which parts to target, the center was likely put out of action.

The pattern mirrors the earlier Dubna strike. Ukraine’s General Staff previously confirmed hits on the hardware-module complex of Dubna’s 32-meter MARK-IV antenna, the technical building next to it, and the main production and administrative building that housed satellite network control equipment.

Earlier, rocket-powered drones struck the Russian Aerospace Forces’ 40th Command and Measurement Complex, also known as the Center for Deep Space Communications, overnight on September 10 in the village of Vitino, temporarily occupied Crimea.

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