A Ukrainian drone attack targeted Russia’s Engels Air Base in the Saratov region, 300 miles from the Ukrainian border, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. These claims are supported by an abundance of dramatic imagery footage. At this stage, it’s unclear whether any Russian aircraft were damaged in the incident, although there are strong indications that the primary target may have been a weapons storage area at the base. Long-range bombers flying from the air base regularly attack Ukraine and the airfield, and others like it have long been high-priority targets for Kyiv.
Videos and photos posted to social media showed the attack and its aftermath, which occurred early this morning, local time. Some of these videos have since been independently verified. The strikes involved Ukrainian-made long-range one-way attack drones, with at least one video seemingly indicating the use of the twin-boom Lyutyy or the visually similar PD-2. Both these types have been used to attack targets deep inside Russia on multiple occasions.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense confirmed that its forces had struck the airfield and the attacks triggered secondary detonations of ammunition.
At least one video captured the moment that the shockwave from a massive explosion at Engels passed through the surrounding area. Such was the ferocity of the blast that areas outside of the base — including a settlement of dacha cottages — were severely damaged, with some structures being obliterated.
Roman Busargin, the governor of the Saratov region, confirmed there had been a Ukrainian drone attack that had left an unnamed airfield on fire, and that nearby residents had been evacuated. Other local officials said that 10 people had been injured in the attack and Engels district head Maxim Leonov confirmed that a local state of emergency had been declared.
The size of the blast, the subsequent intense fire, and the huge pall of smoke rising over the air base are certainly in line with the theory that a weapons storage area was struck. If that were the case, this could have eliminated a lot of weaponry, specifically the air-launched cruise missiles that Russian bombers are mainly armed with.
In addition, there are reports that secondary explosions continued throughout the morning, which would correspond with ammunition cooking off after the initial blast(s). Targeting munitions areas for their secondary effects as well as what they contain is a major tactic used by both sides in this war.
The scale of the destruction outside of the air base also suggests that there might be more extensive damage within the facility’s perimeters. So far, TWZ has not been able to obtain relevant satellite imagery that isn’t obscured by cloud cover.
According to unconfirmed Ukrainian accounts, there were three Tu-95MS Bear-H and two Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers at Engels this morning. There were further reports that an Il-76 Candid airlifter had also recently arrived, perhaps carrying additional munitions for the resident bombers, though this cannot be verified.
Regardless of what Russian aircraft were at the base this morning, the attack further underscores the ability of relatively slow and low-flying Ukrainian drones to fly deep into Russian territory and strike strategic military targets. Once again, this raises questions about local air defense capabilities, although Russian authorities typically claim that they successfully intercept almost all Ukrainian drones sent their way. On this occasion, Russian officials said that their air defenses had shot down 54 Ukrainian drones in the Saratov region overnight — from a total of 132 Ukrainian drones allegedly brought down across all Russian regions.
Low and slow-flying drones, especially those made of composite materials, are hard to detect, track, and engage, but Russia has been facing attacks of this kind for many months now.
In the past, Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian bomber bases have resulted in damage to aircraft.
For example, Engels was attacked three times in the month of December 2022 alone. On at least one of those occasions, the Russian Ministry of Defense said the air base was attacked by Soviet-made jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles modified by Ukraine to carry explosives. Those attacks — which also targeted Dyagilevo Air Base — resulted in damage to at least one Tu-22M3 Backfire-C bomber and apparently also to a Tu-95MS.
More recently, in January of this year, we reported on a huge fire close to Engels Air Base, caused by what Russian officials described as a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack. The strike was on the strategically important fuel storage tank farm for Engels and the fire raged for several days after, as seen in the image in the embedded tweet below:
Engels is home to the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division, which operates one squadron of Bear-Hs and another squadron of supersonic Blackjacks — this is the only permanent base for the Tu-160. Both types have been widely employed in the conflict in Ukraine and especially in the standoff strikes that have targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, among other objectives, civilian and military, across the country.
Meanwhile, repeated Ukrainian attacks have led to Russian air bases dispersing their aircraft for protection.
The Russian Aerospace Forces have also taken further precautions at their bases. Initially, they installed blast walls between active aircraft. This was an attempt to contain any damage to one aircraft in an attack, designed to prevent both fire and shrapnel from spreading. More recently, construction work at multiple bases has been adding many dozens of new hardened aircraft shelters to better shield aircraft from drone attacks and other indirect fire. However, the size of the bombers means they cannot be provided with the same kinds of protection.
As well as the physical hardening of airfields, Russia has arranged discarded aircraft as decoys. More unorthodox measures have included placing car tires on the upper surfaces of aircraft and painting aircraft silhouettes on concrete airfield surfaces. The tires, specifically, were intended to confuse image-matching seekers on Ukrainian-operated standoff weapons.
At the same time, anti-aircraft defenses have been set up at Russian airfields, although, as demonstrated today, their effectiveness has been mixed.
The latest attack on Engels Air Base comes as Ukraine and Russia trade strikes against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s efforts to work out the details of a partial ceasefire. Hours before the drone strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke to his U.S. counterpart President Donald Trump, and accepted the Kremlin’s offer to mutually pause attacks on energy targets for 30 days.
As for the effectiveness of today’s Ukrainian drone attack on Engels Air Base, we will have to wait for satellite imagery to have a better idea of this. At the very least, however, the operation is a reminder of Ukraine’s ability to target facilities of this kind as part of its long-range drone strategy. Among these targets, Engels, as Russia’s master bomber base, remains a prized objective for Ukraine.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com