Car bomb wounds Russian drone maker Tkachuk, kills his driver near Ekaterinburg
Vladimir Tkachuk, general director of Uraldronzavod and producer of Upyr kamikaze drones used by Russia in Ukraine, was seriously wounded on 4 August 2026 when an explosive device destroyed his Mercedes in Bolshoy Istok, south-east of Ekaterinburg. His driver was killed.
The attack
On Tuesday 4 August 2026, an explosive device hidden underneath Vladimir Tkachuk's Mercedes detonated in Bolshoy Istok, Sysert district, south-east of Ekaterinburg, as the 35-year-old co-founder and general director of Uraldronzavod was about to get into the car. The blast destroyed the vehicle, which burned completely. Tkachuk was seriously wounded and taken to intensive care. His driver, described in some reports as a bodyguard, was killed on the spot according to the police-sourced outlet Mash and to sources cited by Kommersant; the authorities have not confirmed that death. Investigators opened a criminal case for attempted murder. Details of the attack emerged only on 5 August, when they were widely reported across Russian media.
Accounts of Tkachuk's condition conflict. Tass cited an unnamed source in the emergency services saying he was in intensive care in a grave condition and that medics were fighting for his life. Tkachuk's own Telegram channel described him as in intensive care in a stable condition, according to The Moscow Times.
Tkachuk and Uraldronzavod
Tkachuk set up Uraldronzavod in Ekaterinburg after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and registered it as a limited liability company in September 2023. The firm employs 18 people and reported revenue of 6.2 billion roubles and net profit of 1.9 billion for 2025, according to Kontur.Focus data cited by E1.RU and MSK1. The company produces Upyr (Vampire) FPV drones, quadcopters operated via virtual-reality goggles with a range of up to 12 kilometres and speeds of up to 180 kilometres per hour, used by Russian forces on the front lines against infantry and heavy equipment including American Abrams tanks. The United States and the European Union have sanctioned the company for supporting Russia's aggression.
- Revenue 2025
- 6.2 billion roubles
- Net profit 2025
- 1.9 billion roubles
Tkachuk presented the Upyr directly to Vladimir Putin at a session of the military-industrial commission on unmanned systems in St Petersburg, having been invited a day in advance. He separately demonstrated the drone to Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, and to Artyom Zhoga, the presidential envoy to the Urals district. Tkachuk also ran a popular pro-war Telegram channel called "Obsessed with War" (Povyornutye na voyne), which had more than 660,000 subscribers and collected funds for the military.
A string of attacks
The bombing was the second attack on a Russian drone maker in a week. On 29 July 2026, Andrey Cherezov, chief designer of the Ovod (Gadfly) family of FPV drones built by the Russian Air Transport Laboratory, was shot three times by an unidentified assailant in the entrance hall of his apartment block on Mikheeva Street in Tula, at around 1 a.m., as he was opening his door. He was hospitalised in a critical condition. The EU had added his company to its sanctions list a week earlier.
Four days before the Tkachuk bombing, on 1 August, an explosion tore through the Balzi Rossi restaurant on Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow, where General Aleksandr Chayko, commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces, was reportedly celebrating his 55th birthday. The blast initially killed three people, including the woman who carried the improvised device in a gift box and was stopped by a guard at the entrance, and wounded 21. Tass reported the following day that the death toll had risen to five after two of the wounded died in hospital. Independent Russian and Ukrainian outlets reported that Chayko's daughter Maria was hit by shrapnel and that her husband, Daniil Peredrya, died in hospital; Russian officials have not confirmed those accounts. Russia blamed Kiev for the restaurant bombing.
- Cherezov shot three times in Tula, hospitalised in critical condition
- Balzi Rossi restaurant bombing in Moscow kills three, wounds 21
- Tass reports restaurant death toll rises to five after two wounded die in hospital
- Tkachuk's Mercedes destroyed by car bomb in Bolshoy Istok; driver killed
- Details of Tkachuk attack widely reported across Russian media
Broader context
Russia has blamed Ukraine for a string of assassinations of senior military officials and people linked to Moscow's war effort. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some attacks while denying blame for others. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the Tkachuk attack. News of the car bombing broke shortly after Putin named a commander to head Russia's newly established Unmanned Systems Forces, a new branch of the military. Drones have come to dominate the Ukraine war, now in its fifth year.
