Six Russian warplanes ‘destroyed and eight damaged’ in Ukraine attack on Putin air base
Ukraine destroyed six Russian warplanes and damaged eight more in an attack on an air base on Thursday night, according to reports.
If confirmed, it will be a blow to Vladimir Putin’s air force as his ground troops gradually gain more ground in eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv attacked Russia’s Morozovsk military air base in the Rostov region, destroying six Russian warplanes, intelligence sources told the Reuters news agency on Friday.
The source did not say how the attack was conducted but that eight more warplanes had also been damaged.
Russia’s RIA news agency cited the Russian defence ministry earlier as saying Russian air defences had downed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over the Rostov region.
The Morozovsk air base is said to house Russian tactical bombers like the Sukhoi Su-24 and Su-24M that Moscow’s air force uses to fire guided bombs at the Ukrainian military and frontline towns and cities.
The source described the operation as an important one.
A drone was also reportedly downed over the Engels-2 airfield in the Saratov region which hosts Russian strategic bombers.
The governor of Russia's Rostov-on-Don region said early on Friday that an electricity substation was damaged in the attack and that efforts were ongoing to restore power.
Unable to rapidly produce long-range missiles and with limited access to those made by Western allies, Kyiv has focused on developing long-range uncrewed vehicles to strike back at Russia, which has used a sprawling arsenal of missiles and drones to bomb Ukraine
Kyiv also said on Friday that it had shot down 13 drones launched by Russia against Ukraine's southern regions overnight.
Shahed drones were destroyed over the Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, officials said.
Russia also used two S-300/S-400 missiles and three Iskander-M ballistic missiles in the attack.
One of the attacks targeted energy infrastructure in the Odesa region but air defences repelled all four drones, Ukraine's southern group of forces said on the Telegram messaging app.
The debris damaged several private residences and farm buildings in Zaporizhzhia, the statement said.
Local officials also reported explosions in an attack in the eastern city of Kharkiv, a regular target of Russian attacks, late on Thursday.
The region's governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said the attack damaged four cars and a five-storey building with no casualties reported as of Friday morning.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian grid infrastructure in recent weeks, aiming to disrupt the country's power and energy network.