By Kyiv Post
Copyright kyivpost
Russia’s business news site Kommersant reported on Monday that Russian insurance companies recorded a significant increase in inquiries for separate property insurance against the risk from drone attacks.
The demand is driven by two factors: the higher profile given by the media to the upsurge in Ukrainian drone attacks increasing the fear among residents and the fact that the authorities frequently declare such attacks to be an act of terrorism which is excluded from coverage.
At the end of October 2023 VSK, Russia’s seventh largest insurance company, was the first to offer separate insurance policies against drone strikes. At the same time its major competitors said they had no plans to offer separate policies as they considered risks to be limited only to areas adjacent to the border with Ukraine.
In recent months that assessment has changed. The range and number of Ukraine strikes have extended – the longest being August’s 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) attack on a radar station near Orsk in the Orenburg region. That followed June’s “Spidersweb” drone strikes against five strategic aviation bases, one at 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) from Ukraine. All this has sowed the seeds in many Russian minds that nowhere was now safe.
Following these and other drone campaigns, particularly against Russia’s energy infrastructure has seen an upsurge in requests for stand-alone drone attack insurance which the majority of VSK’s competitors have responded.
According to financial experts cited by Kommersant, the number of customer requests could run into the hundreds of thousands in both Russian border and central regions and tens of thousands in more remote areas, some properties said to be valued at millions of rubles – tens of thousands of dollars.
Andrey Barkhota, a financial analyst says the “drone insurance market” has seen a seven-fold increase in 2025 and could be worth as much as 25 billion rubles ($240 million) from a total value of policies this year of around 58 billion ($690 million).
It is expected that drone insurance will reach 40 billion ($478 million) as the number of drone attacks is expected to see a minimum three-fold growth according to Andrey Tverskoy, Director of Corporate Insurance at Zetta Insurance.
Ivan Rybakov, head of the insurance practice at MEF Legal is cited by the Moscow Times as suggesting that the authorities have yet to fully define when a drone crash is considered as a terrorist act. He advises that before taking out a separate policy customers should “read the small print” to confirm which risks are covered before signing.
