Four Chelyabinsk Drivers Involved in Drone Case
Four drivers from Chelyabinsk Region have been detained on charges of involvement in a drone attack. The defense insists that their clients were used without being informed of the plans.
Feb 28, 2026 0
The Basmanny Court of Moscow ruled to keep the drivers in custody during the investigation.
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The investigation into the criminal case of a large-scale drone attack carried out in June 2025 has revealed new suspects. They turned out to be five truck drivers from Chelyabinsk Region, one of whom died, and four were arrested.
The investigation believes that the drones were transported on similar trucks to launch sites.
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The drones attacked military airfields simultaneously in several regions on June 1, 2025. According to the Ministry of Defense, strikes were carried out on facilities in Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. Some of the attacks were repelled, but in Murmansk and Irkutsk regions, fires broke out on aviation equipment.
The Timofeyev spouses, declared wanted, are originally from Ukraine and lived in Chelyabinsk Region.
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Responsibility for the incident was officially placed on Ukrainian special services. The operation, as reported, was named «Web».
The trucks used in the attack were neutralized by authorities after the incident.
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According to the investigation«s version, the drones were transported in the roofs of frame houses that were in trailers. The drivers, according to the publication Kommersant, fulfilled an order to deliver this cargo to different regions, unaware of its contents.
The four detainees — Alexander Zaitsev, Sergey Kanurin, Andrey Merkuryev, and Mikhail Ryumin — were placed in a pre-trial detention center. The Basmanny Court of Moscow extended the detention period for Ryumin and Kanurin, while for Zaitsev and Merkuryev, the issue will be considered on January 30.
The accused do not admit guilt. Lawyers claim that the drivers were «kept in the dark». «Ryumin stated that he was »kept in the dark«. He was carrying out a routine trip and could not have been aware of the dangerous contents of the cargo,» Kommersant quotes the defense.
According to the lawyers, when the drivers realized what was happening, they tried to stop or shoot down the drones. The activation of the drones, according to the data, was carried out remotely by employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
For committing a terrorist act by a group of persons causing significant property damage, the accused face from 12 to 20 years of imprisonment under Part 2 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code.
The defense is petitioning for a change of preventive measure to a softer one, citing the lack of evidence of the clients« awareness. Kanurin»s lawyer stated: «In essence, the evidence confirms that Kanurin involuntarily turned out to be the person who transported the UAVs. All his guilt lies in the fact that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Judging him for this is wrong.»
The publication draws a parallel with the case of the explosion of the Crimean Bridge in 2022, where eight accused, who also claimed they were kept in the dark, received life sentences.
Previously, spouses Artyom and Yekaterina Timofeyev were declared wanted, who, according to the investigation, organized the attack. They have been included in the list of terrorists and extremists.
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