Cheap but dangerous: how Russia's plywood Molniya drone has become a big problem for Ukraine's defence forces
The Molniya (Lightning) is a simple, low-cost attack drone capable of operating dozens of kilometres deep into enemy territory. Russian Molniya drones are gradually pushing back what was until recently considered a relatively safe distance from the front lines.
Throughout 2025, Ukrainian long-range drones repeatedly struck facilities involved in the mass production of Molniya-type UAVs in Russia's Rostov Oblast.
However, disrupting their production is challenging, as the Molniya is a very simple platform that is not tied to a single facility and can be assembled at different sites.
Mass-produced, low-cost medium-range attack drones are becoming an element of the threat Ukraine will confront in 2026.
Russia's Molniya goes beyond being an attack drone. It is a platform that the Russians are constantly experimenting with and modifying for various applications. Ukrainska Pravda has explored what makes this Russian drone so threatening, as it is reshaping the battlefield.
When the rear becomes a "relative rear"
Many Ukrainian military units first encountered the Molniya in 2024. At the time, there was a practical, rather intuitive distinction along certain parts of the front: moving 18-20 km from the line of contact meant leaving the edge of active combat and entering an area where risks were considered manageable. Logistics moved through the zone, drone crews worked there and troops rotated in and out.
It was at this distance that fighters from the Antares Unmanned Systems Battalion of the Rubizh unit, Ukraine's 4th Brigade of the National Guard, first realised that this formula no longer held. Samir, the battalion commander, recalls an episode that has become emblematic:
"It was 18-20 km from what was considered a relatively stable front line. At the time, this was regarded as a safe distance, where you could switch on your car headlights and drive with peace of mind. But one night, the Molniyas caused serious trouble. Five or six vehicles burned out on a single road – some were ours, others were operated by a neighbouring unit. That was when it became clear that this distance no longer offered any guarantee of safety."
A similar view comes from Kot, the commander of a strike UAV company in the K-2 Brigade. He said the Molniya is not a technological breakthrough or an entirely new type of weapon. What matters here is not the engineering, but the potential for mass use:
"It's not something unique or innovative," he said. "The main problem is that this drone can be mass-produced. And that's where its greatest danger lies."
For Ukraine's armed forces, this is not a "new war", but a greater intensity of risk within established combat routines. The Molniya pushes risk further to the rear, making camouflage and caution necessary even away from active fighting.
Antares commander Samir describes how the use of these drones has evolved over the past year. Initially, they primarily targeted logistics over relatively long distances, but their operational scenarios have expanded significantly over time.
"It used to be more of a long-range tool, deployed for strikes on logistics around 20 km from the front. Now they are used against frontline positions and to carry other drones. So they're now operating at depths of 50 km or more."
The Molniya: basic specifications and its place in Russia's UAV fleet
The Molniya belongs to the class of aircraft-type attack drones, commonly referred to as "wings" by the Ukrainian military. In this context, it occupies a middle ground between conventional first-person view (FPV) quadcopters and larger loitering munitions, such as the Lancet, which serve a different purpose in terms of range, accuracy and cost.
Unlike FPV drones, the Molniya is not designed for short-range, precision attacks while hovering over a target. Instead, it is a horizontal-flight platform that enables it to carry a heavier warhead and strike targets beyond the immediate line of battle: logistics, rear positions or clusters of equipment.
The Russians developed the Molniya in several variants over the course of its use, altering its weight, power system and allowable payload. The most common version is an enlarged modification known as the Molniya-2.
In a comment to Ukrainska Pravda, Nazarii Barchuk, an analyst at the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, described the Molniya as a typical medium-range drone, where the key factor is the balance between range and combat payload. He noted that in the Molniya-2 modification, the maximum take-off weight can reach around 10 kg, while the combat payload is usually 3-5 kg. In this configuration, the drone has a range of approximately 30 km or can remain airborne for up to 40 minutes.
The basic versions of the Molniya use a radio control channel, making them vulnerable to electronic warfare. The Ukrainian military reported that the platform does not have fixed characteristics: depending on the task, the Russians adjust the balance between range and combat payload. At shorter distances, the payload can be increased at the expense of range, while for deeper strikes, the weight is reduced to preserve flight energy.
This flexibility is what makes the Molniya more than just another kamikaze drone: it is a universal platform that Russian troops are constantly adapting to current conditions and operational scenarios.
The issue is not a single upgraded drone, but rather a series of modifications that expand the platform's role and enable it to be adapted to various battlefield conditions.
One of the most notable developments is the introduction of versions equipped with a fibre-optic control channel. In this configuration, the Molniya does not rely on radio control and cannot be jammed by electronic warfare (EW) systems. However, fibre optics add weight, reduce payload and limit flight range, meaning such drones are used selectively, where passing through an area saturated with EW is more important than delivering the maximum combat payload.
Meanwhile, Russian military units are testing other options. Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian military radio technology expert, reported on the following Molniya variants on his Telegram channel:
- Molniyas armed with thermite warheads, intended to set fire to equipment, warehouses and logistics facilities
- Molniya-type drones fitted with machine-vision elements, designed to reduce dependence on the operator during the final stage of flight
- Configurations carrying an FPV drone onboard, with the Molniya acting as a carrier that delivers the smaller drone closer to its target
- Models equipped with thermal imaging cameras, expanding capabilities for night-time use and target acquisition.
Another line of development is the re-profiling of the Molniya-2 as a low-cost reconnaissance drone. At the end of 2025, Russian sources reported the appearance of versions equipped with a gyro-stabilised camera, allowing stable images to be captured during high-speed flight and manoeuvres.
Such drones can be used for reconnaissance, strike adjustment or target illumination for other weapons. There have also been isolated cases of Starlink satellite terminals being installed on them.
Kot, the commander of the K-2 attack drone company, explains: "Sometimes all you need is a drone equipped with a standard camera to provide accurate coordinates, enabling other weapons to deliver an effective result."
Ultimately, the Molniya is increasingly being used not as a standalone kamikaze drone, but as part of a chain involving reconnaissance drones, FPVs or artillery. Not all of these modifications are widely deployed, but the development path itself shows how Russia is trying to maximise the potential of a simple, low-cost platform.
How Molniya is growing: decentralised assembly and mass production
Molniya is not a high-tech product in the conventional sense of the defence industry, Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, an aviation expert and deputy CEO of a company that manufactures electronic warfare equipment, told Ukrainska Pravda. The platform's key components – electronics, engines, optics and radio links – are imported, largely from the civilian market and primarily from China. The Russian contribution is minimal, boiling down to the airframe and simple design solutions:
"In fact, it's a construction kit sourced from the mass civilian market," Khrapchynskyi said. "The body is made of plywood, plastic and aluminium tubes. Assembling it does not require complex equipment or specialised machine tools."
It is this architecture that enables the Molniya to be assembled at compact sites that can easily be disguised as civilian or semi-civilian facilities.
Khrapchynskyi emphasises that even successful strikes on specific locations do not mean the entire production system is shut down. Owing to the simplicity of the design and the decentralised assembly model, Russia can resume production at other sites or relocate it without a prolonged pause:
"That's not a factory in the conventional sense," he said. "It's a rapidly deployed production process: a warehouse of components, workstations and manual assembly. That's why such platforms are easily scalable and easily recoverable after losses."
Ukraine's medium-range answer: the emergence of the Blyskavka (Lightning)
Ukraine's medium-range UAV segment took shape even before Russia developed the Molniya. One of the best-known examples is the Darts drone produced by Stalevi Shershni (Steel Hornets), a Ukrainian company. The basic single-engine version costs approximately US$1,000, has a range of up to 50 km, can carry a 3.6 kg warhead and reaches speeds of up to 160 km/h.
During tests organised by the Brave1 cluster in 2025, other drones in this class were also showcased. KORT, a Ukrainian defence company, unveiled the Hunter Killer 3 and Hunter Killer 10, both equipped with stable video links and a target acquisition system.
One of the drones in the same class was the Blyskavka, developed by the Ukrainian company Vyriy, which the team began publicly demonstrating in autumn 2025.
The company's CEO, Oleksii Babenko, told Ukrainska Pravda that its engineers had not started from the specific design of the Blyskavka, but from the concept it represents: a simple, affordable medium-range platform intended for mass use.
"At the start, the Russians had many rough-and-ready solutions. Some components were simply held together with hot glue, which began to melt at around +30°C, causing the structure to lose rigidity. Launching the drone also required several people and precise synchronisation. If anyone made a mistake, the drone simply would not take off."
These issues were addressed in the Ukrainian-made Blyskavka:
"Some components were replaced with 3D-printed parts to ensure they maintained their shape and could handle the load consistently," Babenko said. "We also automated the launch process, allowing the drone to take off on its own when the correct parameters are set. This has removed human error from the equation."
Classified as a medium-range fixed-wing drone, the Blyskavka has a range of up to 80 km, a top altitude of 2,000 m, a flight duration of up to 60 minutes and a maximum speed of roughly 160 km/h. Its cost is estimated at UAH 35,000 (approximately US$810).
As in the FPV segment, the platform is evolving through modifications, including enhanced communication options, most notably fibre-optic, and work on guidance using beacons, which lessens reliance on GPS.
It is evident that Ukraine's medium-range drone segment has taken shape, but the experience of 2024-2025 demonstrates that the availability of capable platforms alone does not ensure rapid scaling, which also depends on resources and manpower. Wide-scale use is essential.
Medium-range capabilities as the new defence norm
A familiar pattern emerges when looking at the Molniya, not through individual incidents but across recent years. In 2023-2024, FPV drones followed a similar trajectory, from isolated cases to a daily instrument of war.
In 2026, the medium-range segment could enter a similar phase: low-cost, fixed-wing attack drones operating at depths of 20-50 km, gradually redefining where the rear begins.
When medium-range UAVs become commonplace, they do not destroy logistics in one fell swoop, but rather they force constant reorganisation, complicate routes, reduce windows for movement and increase risks for evacuation and supply. It is this cumulative effect that makes them a system-wide factor.
Khrapchynskyi believes that in modern warfare, it is not the peak tactical or technical performance of a particular model that is decisive, but the speed of adaptation, scalability and cost-effectiveness. A weapons system is judged not by how "good" it is, but by how quickly it can be mass-produced, adapted to new conditions and expended without critical repercussions.
Therefore, the decisive factor in this segment will not be a single ideal drone model, but the ability to operate effectively with medium-range unmanned aerial vehicles as a class. For Russia, this means maintaining production pace, supplying components and regularly deploying cheap fixed-wing drones. For Ukraine, the challenge is different: timely detection of such drones, effective use of electronic warfare where feasible, physical protection of critical routes, particularly via anti-drone nets, and readiness to confront this class of threats not sporadically, but on a daily basis.
Military personnel interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda emphasise that there is no single solution. A combination of measures is needed to counter the Molniya: route reconnaissance, fire teams, electronic warfare, engineering protection in key areas and stricter safety procedures during movement.
The strikes on Taganrog are only part of the picture. Molniya is not a single factory, but a dispersed process that cannot be shut down by a single strike. However, this process can become more costly, irregular and vulnerable if Ukraine applies pressure to storage sites, assembly points, component logistics and personnel.
In 2026, medium-range strike drones are unlikely to become a game changer on their own. However, they may become a tool that, day after day, reduces freedom of manoeuvre, constrains logistics and raises the cost of every kilometre in the frontline zone. It is this kind of impact, not immediately visible but systematic, that poses the main challenge Ukraine must now adapt to.
Translation: Artem Yakymyshyn
Editing: Susan McDonald