Ukrainian drones attack second Russian fighter jet base within three days

According to local reports, Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian military base Morozovsk in the Rostov region overnight, the second attack on a Russian fighter jet base in three days.

Ukraine has frequently attacked Russian military bases with long-range drones, which Kyiv describes as legitimate targets in the ongoing war between the two countries that began in February 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

In the early hours of Monday morning, images and pictures circulated on social media that appeared to show smoke over the Morozovsk military airport. According to the Ukrainian security service SBU, Russian Su-27 and Su-34 tactical bombers are stationed there and are used for air strikes on Ukraine. Newsweek could not confirm the authenticity of the footage.

Explosions could be heard in eyewitness videos showing drones over the southern Russian region.

“A drone hit a military airfield in Morozovsk, Rostov Oblast. A fire broke out there, but there are no further details at the moment,” reported the Telegram channel Astra, a project of independent Russian journalists.

Local residents said they heard explosions near the military airfield, Ukrainian television channel 24 Kanal reported.

Russian and Ukrainian government officials have not commented on the reported attack. Newsweek has asked the Russian Foreign Ministry and the SBU for comment via email.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that air defense systems had shot down 47 Ukrainian drones over the Rostov region.

The air base was already targeted by the Ukrainian secret service SBU in April. An SBU source told Reuters at the time that a joint attack by the Kyiv secret service and the Ukrainian military had destroyed six Russian fighter planes and damaged eight others that were stationed at the base at the time of the attack.

On Saturday, Ukrainian media reported that Kyiv had launched drone attacks on the Russian air base Millerovo, which is also located in the Rostov region.

The region’s governor, Vasily Golubev, said on his Telegram channel that 26 drones had been shot down.

Satellite images released on Sunday by the Russian-language service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project reportedly showed a damaged hangar at the Millerovo air base.

The images were shared by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Mark Krutov, who said on Sunday on X, formerly known as Twitter: “There are three fire traces: 1) a maintenance hangar, 2) a fire in an open field and 3) a fuel depot.”

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