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28 Dec 2024, 09:44 am
How a Russian drone factory is ramping up recruitment
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Cat videos, TikTok dances, even direct calls to help the war effort. This is how one of Russia’s main drone factories is overcoming crippling labor shortages and keeping up with soaring production targets. At the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, some 600 miles south-east of Moscow, underage students have been drafted in to assemble the UAVs, according to social media posts and the US Treasury. As Russia intensifies its drone offensive on Ukraine, the pressure to staff the factory is growing. Ukrainian defense intelligence sources told CNN that production of the Iranian-designed Shahed drone more than doubled at Alabuga this year, and satellite images reveal ongoing expansion. CNN’s Clare Sebastian investigates.
