Overview

• Photographer Vadim Makhorov used a drone in September 2025 to film several polar bears sheltering inside deserted buildings on Kolyuchin Island.
• Kolyuchin sits about 11 kilometers off Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula in the Chukchi Sea across from Alaska.
• The site is a Soviet-era weather and research station that has stood unused since the 1990s.
• Makhorov said he observed roughly 20 bears near the station with a nearby walrus haulout, and video showed one bear trying to swat his drone.
• Experts tie increased time on land to declining sea ice, and there have been no reports of human–bear conflict or official actions related to this sighting.