Since February, fragments of at least four suspected unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also called drones, have been found in the West Kazakhstan region. The suspected drone fragments have all fallen in parts of Kazakhstan closest to the ongoing war in Ukraine, illustrating the dangers posed to neighbors of the conflict.
In two of the four incidents, photos have circulated in the media, which allowed the identification of the drone fragments as of likely Russian origin. The authorities have not officially identified any of the fragments or explained how they ended up in Kazakhstan’s territory.
On March 26, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, Azattyk, reported that pieces of a suspected UAV were found in Zhanibek district, which borders Russia. Local authorities reported in a press release that they were conducting “verification activities regarding the discovery of objects similar to fragments of an unmanned aerial vehicle in the Zhanibek district.” The press release, per Azattyk’s reporting, stated the fragments were found in a remote, unpopulated, area. The report did not include a specific location or size of the debris.
Two days earlier, also in Zhanibek district, pieces of what is believed to be a UAV were found in the the Uzynkol rural district. The regional police press service stated that the objects were found 480 kilometers from Oral (Uralsk), the capital of the West Kazakhstan region, in an remote area. The report did not specify the size of the debris.
Before that, on March 18, a sizable piece of a suspected drone landed near the village of Atameken, in West Kazakhstan’s Taskala district. Regional media shared a photo of the debris, a three-meter object (9 feet) that resembles the Russian-built version of Iran’s Shahed-136 one-way attack drone.
On February 18 a 1.2 meter (nearly 4 feet) section of a suspected UAV was found in the village of Uyaly in West Kazakhstan’s Bokey Orda (Bokeyordinsky) district. Local media shared an image of the object, and some suggested that it resembles the Sagem “Crecerelle,” a reconnaissance drone developed by the French in the 1990s. Ukrainian defense blogs have argued that the “resemblance” argument is a bit of Russian disinformation designed to direct blame to Ukraine, and that the drone is actually a Russian Orlan-10. Other Kazakh media reported that the fallen drone does appear to be an Orlan-10.
The February fragments were found a day after a drone strike on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) Kropotkinskaya pumping station. The Kropotkinskaya station, located in Russia’s Krasnodar region, is the largest in the CPC system and is a critical node for Kazakhstan’s oil exports west to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Another station in the system, the Kavkazskaya station, was struck on March 19. According to the Astana Times, citing CPC “… following the shutdown of the Kropotkinskaya station, the expected transportation volume for the year was reduced. Moreover, with the destruction of the Kavkazskaya station, it will become impossible to transport oil through this route in the near future.”
West Kazakhstan region borders the Russian regions of Orenburg to the northeast, Samara to the north, Saratov to the northwest, Volgograd to the west, and Astrakhan to the southwest. Astrakhan’s northern portion is home to the Kapustin Yar military training area, where Russia conducts missile testing. In 2018, part of a missile undergoing testing at Kapustin Yar fell in West Kazakhstan.
