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Ukraine said it hit Russia’s Engels-2 air base, causing fires and explosions.
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Engels-2 is a key Russian base used for launching bomber attacks on Ukraine.
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While Ukraine attacked the military base, Russia bombed a Ukrainian city overnight.
Ukraine claimed responsibility for a major attack that set a blaze at a key Russian air base overnight on Wednesday.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Thursday that its special forces had caused the detonation of an ammunition store at the Engels-2 air base in Russia’s Saratova region, resulting in fires and explosions.
Engels-2, which sits about 450 miles from unoccupied Ukraine, is a key air base from which Russia has launched devastating attacks on Ukraine using its fleet of Tu-95 and Tu-160 bomber aircraft.
It’s unclear if any planes were damaged in the attack.
A Tu-95 strategic bomber at Engels air base.Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File
Ukraine’s General Staff didn’t say what weapons were used, but the region’s governor, Roman Busargin, said that Russian forces had shot down 54 drones.
He called it the largest attack on the area since 2022. Russian authorities do not generally report on strikes.
Busargin said in a Telegram post Thursday that a state of emergency had been declared, and that civilians had been evacuated from areas around the base.
Russian opposition media channel Astra shared images and video of a massive plume of smoke and reported multiple explosions.
The blasts knocked windows out of two kindergartens, a school, and a local hospital, injuring one woman, Busargin said.
Business Insider could not independently verify the reports.
Ukraine’s attack on the base came amid a wider barrage, with Russia’s Ministry of Defence claiming to have shot down 134 drones overnight across six regions.
It was also the third attack on Engels-2 this year.
In January, Ukraine’s 14th Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Regiment claimed responsibility for what it described at the time as its largest-ever attack on a Russian military facility, targeting an oil storage facility supplying fuel for the planes.
The base has taken extensive measures to try to protect the aircraft, including piling tires onto them in an apparent attempt to fool Ukrainian missiles.
In 2023, Russia relocated some of its bombers farther east, to avoid Ukrainian attacks.
A damaged apartment building in Kropyvnytskyi, after the overnight Russian attack.National Police of Ukraine
Ukraine’s General Staff said Thursday that it used detailed planning to avoid civilian casualties.
Russia also sent more than 200 attack drones and other missiles against central Ukraine overnight Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
More than 30 explosions were heard in Kropyvnytskyi, a city in Kirovohrad Oblast, the regional governor told broadcaster Suspilne.
Police said that 10 people were injured in the attacks.
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