Ukraine launches major drone attack on Russian strategic bomber base

Telegraph

20-03-2025

Ukraine launched a major long-range strike on a key military airbase deep inside Russia that houses nuclear-capable strategic bombers.
In the early hours of Thursday, a swarm of drones hit the Engels base, more than 400 miles from Ukraine's front line, in the third such attack in 10 weeks, resulting in a series of explosions.
It came a day after Ukraine said it was willing to commit to the US-proposed temporary ceasefire on strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure, which Moscow had already claimed to have agreed to.
As a clear military target, Engels – considered one of Russia's most important military facilities – near the city of Saratov in southern Russia, would not constitute a breach of such a truce.
Footage posted online showed a large mushroom cloud rising above the Soviet-era base that hosts Russia's Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable heavy strategic bombers that are used to launch missile attacks at Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine's defence ministry said its forces had struck the airfield and triggered secondary detonations of ammunition.
Engels 'is now facing serious difficulties', the Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication (Stratcom) reported.
On Thursday morning, local authorities declared a state of emergency in the nearby district and evacuated residents after what they described as the 'largest-ever attack' the region had faced by enemy drones.
The blast and secondary explosions were reported to have a radius of 5km, with videos showing nearby cottages blown apart.
Engels has been used as a major launch base throughout the three-year war and is home to the 184th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment and 121st Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, a long-range aviation unit.
It also stores Kh-101 and Kh-55 cruise missiles. Open-source analysts reported that a fresh batch of missiles had recently been delivered to the base before it was struck.
Engels has been a key target of Ukraine's military throughout the war. On Jan 8, a swarm of Ukrainian drones targeted a fuel depot there, triggering a huge blaze that raged for six days.
Hours after the fire was finally contained, Ukrainian drones hit it for a second time. 'There will be no rest for the wicked,' Ukraine's Stratcom warned.
The earliest attacks on the base date back to December 2022, when Kyiv was first showing off its ability to successfully penetrate Russia's air defences and strike long-range targets.
Two further strikes on Engels were reported in spring of 2024, where Ukraine's military claimed to have destroyed up to three of Vladimir Putin 's prized Tu-95s.
If the partial truce goes ahead, Ukraine will refrain from going after Russia's oil facilities to hurt its economy and will likely turn its focus to destroying the bombers that launch near-weekly raids on its own power plants.
Russia's defence ministry said its air defences had shot down 132 Ukrainian drones over Russia overnight, while pro-Kremlin military bloggers stayed largely silent on the strike on Engels.
Roman Busargin, the governor of the Saratov region, said the strike had left an airfield on fire but did not specifically mention the Engels base, despite it being the main airfield in the area.
Russian state media later said there were '10 victims', but did not provide further details.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, had warned last night that a partial ceasefire with Russia would likely not come into effect until documents were officially signed.
'I understand that until we agree [with Russia], until there is a corresponding document on even a partial ceasefire, I think that everything will fly,' Mr Zelensky told reporters.