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Ukraine on Thursday targeted Russia’s Engels strategic bomber base with drones. The attack triggered a major blast and fire about 700 km (435 miles) from the front lines of the war, Reuters quoted Russian officials.
Video circulating on Russian Telegram channels which Reuters verified, showed a massive explosion on the airfield that wrecked nearby cottages.
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Russia’s defence ministry claimed that air defenses shot down 132 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions.
A video verified by Reuters, based on the position and shape of the buildings, showed a plume of smoke rising above damaged cottages.
According to the Reuters report, the bomber base in Engels, dating back to early Soviet times, hosts Russia’s Tupolev Tu-160 nuclear-capable heavy strategic bombers, known unofficially as White Swans.
Roman Busargin, the governor of Saratov, said there had been a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Engels that had left an airfield on fire, and that nearby residents had been evacuated. He did not specifically mention the Engels base, but it is the main airfield in the area.
Engels district head Maxim Leonov told Reuters that a local state of emergency had been declared but gave few details. Reuters was unable to independently confirm what had taken place at the airfield.
Ukraine has conducted previous attacks on the Engels air base dating back to December 2022. In January it claimed to have struck an oil depot serving the base, causing a huge fire that took five days to put out.
A Ukrainian security source said at the time that a drone attack had struck a storage facility holding guided bombs and missiles at the Engels base.
Ukraine attacks oil refinery in Syzran
Ukraine attacked an oil refinery in the city of Syzran in Russia’s Samara region overnight, the regional governor was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“Emergency services are working on the territory of the enterprise. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties,” Vyacheslav Fedorishchev wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He did not specify whether the refinery had been damaged. Baza and Mash Telegram channels reported that the attack caused a fire.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said air defence systems had destroyed nine Ukrainian drones overnight – over Bryansk, Tatarstan and Tula regions and the Black Sea.
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