An evening-time wave of long-range Ukrainian strike drones pummeled an army airfield deep inside of Russia, sparking hours of explosions and primary fires burning smartly into Thursday morning. An SBU supply instructed Kyiv Publish that brokers from Ukraine’s nationwide intelligence company and operators from the military’s Particular Operations command performed the assault, which reached greater than 400 km (249 miles) into Russian territory.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our protection of the struggle at the @Kyivpost_official. The air raid hit the Russian Air Pressure’s Marinovka air base, within the southern Volgograd area close to town of Kalach-Na-Donu. Russian information experiences mentioned a strike squadron flying Russia’s late-model Su-24MP shut air strengthen jet, and an assault squadron flying the Su-34 strike jet function from the airfield. Native discussion groups reported between six and ten heavy explosions have been heard from the course of the air base beginning at about 4 a.m. native (Moscow) time. Some video posted by way of citizens contained audio of small fingers firing as drones approached. Russian air defenses later claimed its forces had shot down a minimum of 5 Ukrainian kamikaze plane within the neighborhood. The strike focused warehouses on the base containing glider bombs and armed forces gasoline garage reservoirs used day-to-day by way of the Russian Air Pressure to assault objectives in Ukraine, and far of that airfield infrastructure went up in flames, the SBU supply mentioned. Intensive civilian video filmed on dashcams from within reach roads and from the within reach village Oktyabrskaya confirmed a minimum of six primary fires burning close to or throughout the base space, throwing black and grey smoke plumes masses of meters into the sky.
Different Subjects of Passion
Zelensky Says Has Visited Ukraine’s Sumy Space, Bordering Russia’s Kursk Area
Over two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s troops stuck the Kremlin off-guard on August 6 by way of launching a large-scale attack inside of Russian territory.
August 22 NASA satellite tv for pc imagery printed by way of the army analysis team OSINTtechnical appearing 4 fires burning at Marinovka airfield, a minimum of two of which seem to be co-located with army garage constructions. The Russian Protection Ministry previous within the day said an tried Ukrainian drone strike in opposition to the bottom however claimed, with providing proof, the plane did no injury. Russia’s Protection Ministry, in a mid-Friday morning observation, said a Ukrainian strike drone operation within the Volgograd area however claimed all plane have been shot down by way of air protection forces. Russian army amenities suffered insignificant injury from “falling particles” and all fight plane focused by way of Kyiv avoided the moves, the respectable announcement mentioned. Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov in statements posted on his non-public Telegram mentioned the Ukrainian drone assault “used to be repelled…with the vast majority of the drones eradicated…(and)…on account of the autumn of 1 drone, a fireplace broke out at the web site of a Protection Ministry set up.” “In line with initial knowledge, no person used to be injured and there used to be no injury,” Bocharev mentioned. NASA satellite tv for pc imagery to be had to the general public on Thursday morning instructed a distinct tale, appearing the airfield to be virtually indubitably unusable as a result of 3 primary fires, two of which seemed to be co-located with garage constructions or ammunition bunkers. Native discussion groups mentioned an evacuation of Oktyabrskaya and, most likely, the neighboring villages Prikal’nyi and Komsomol’skii can be unavoidable if more than one fires burning on the airfield weren’t introduced beneath keep watch over. In line with regional information platforms, explosions have been nonetheless going down by way of noon Moscow time. Some blasts have been robust sufficient to rattle home windows in properties greater than a kilometer from the airfield. As of Aug. 19, fourteen Su-25s and fifteen Su-34s have been based totally at Marinovka, Ukraine’s UNIAN information company reported. The unbiased Russian Astra information company indexed the 2d Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron, the 4th Air Pressure Headquarters, and the seventh Air and House Forces Brigade as devices based totally at Marinovka airfield. There have been no early experiences of plane hit within the Thursday drone raid. Early this yr, Ukrainian strike planners kicked off a marketing campaign focused on Russian army airfields and in particular bomb depots and plane gasoline garage, with the intention to scale back Russian bomber moves in opposition to Ukrainian army devices, properties and companies. The Russian Air Pressure, because the Kremlin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has loved close to general air superiority in opposition to skinny Ukrainian air defenses. Since overdue final yr, Russian tactical plane have hired guided float bombs permitting Moscow’s pilots to release moves from smartly out of doors the variety of maximum Ukrainian anti-aircraft devices. Ukraine has tried to counter Kremlin airpower with long-range drone moves focused on Russian air bases, in particular fastened airfield infrastructure, Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence carrier HUR instructed the Ukrainian knowledge platform WarZone in a Wednesday interview. 
Aug. 19 satellite tv for pc imagery of Marinovka air base printed by way of the open-source air struggle researcher @MT Anderson confirmed 29 Russian fight jets parked at the airfield not up to 72 hours ahead of Ukraine hit it with kamikaze drones. On Aug. 21, HUR operators introduced drone moves hitting a radio communications heart, an airport, and an airbase in Russia’s Moscow area, and a 2nd wave of air raids in opposition to an air base in Russia’s southwest, close to town of Millerovo, Budanov mentioned. The level of wear and tear wasn’t but transparent, he mentioned. Publish-strike reconnaissance following an Aug. 16 drone assault at the Savasleyka airfield in Russia’s Nizhniy Novgorod area has showed the destruction of a MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor and two Il-76 Candid shipping plane, and imaginable injury to any other 5 plane, Budanov mentioned. From Aug. 19-21, Ukraine introduced nightly drone raids in opposition to Russia’s Olenya airfield close to the Arctic town of Murmansk. The bottom is house to devices of Russian Tu-22M Backfire bombers and is a staging space for Tu-95MS Endure-H bombers – either one of which the Kremlin has used since mid-2023 to release long-range missiles at Ukrainian properties and companies. In line with respectable Russian statements, not one of the Murmansk moves were given thru to the objective. Professional-Russia milbloggers, within the hours after the Marinovka strike, have been calling the Kremlin narrative of Ukraine assault drone ineffectiveness and Russian air protection effectiveness into query. The generally learn and Moscow-sanctioned FighterBomber, a former Russian Air Pressure pilot with greater than a part million fans, mentioned that the Kremlin and its appointees have been deceptive the Russian public. The Kremlin is pretending Ukrainian drones do no injury when if truth be told they do, he charged. “It’s OK to make errors. However to lie is forbidden,” he wrote, in feedback at the Marinovka air base strike.
