Russia Supersonic warplane sites reportedly struck by Ukrainian strikes

Ukrainian forces have been trying harder to weaken Russian control over the skies in the war. They are attacking bases located deep within Russian territory that house very fast warplanes.

Kyiv (the capital of Ukraine) declared that it performed a drone attack on the Shaykovka Russian military air facility. This happened around 200 kilometers (130 miles) northeast of the Ukrainian border on Monday. During the weekend, Ukraine’s drone attacked a military airfield in the Novgorod region, which is located far away from Ukraine. Russia’s defense ministry reported this incident.

Moscow has been controlling the sky and this has made it difficult for Ukraine to counter-attack. Ukrainian soldiers have been carefully navigating through dense areas filled with landmines and many layers of protection on the frontlines in the past few weeks. They have also been frequently attacked from the air.

That’s why Kyiv really wants to get F-16 fighter jets from its allies. However, even though the Netherlands and Denmark agreed to give planes this week, it will take several months to train Ukrainian pilots on how to use them. Meanwhile, Ukraine is attempting to weaken Russia’s air power by attacking its air bases.

The Shaykovka military air base uses powerful planes called Tupolev Tu-22M3 to bomb places in Ukraine. These planes are very fast and can travel long distances. Russia has been using these planes to attack Ukraine since its invasion started last year. Recently, the Ukrainian air force said that planes from Shaykovka sent out four Kh-22 cruise missiles towards Ukraine.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, said that a drone attack happened on Monday at the Shaykovka base in Russia’s Kaluga region. The attack caused damage to at least one aircraft.

Yusov said that the strike was done with the help of a Ukrainian intelligence unit, and it was controlled from Russia.

Ukraine does different tasks within Russia in many other situations, he said.

Russia has not said anything official about the most recent incident. But Baza, a Russian social media blog connected to the country’s security services, stated that a Ukrainian drone crashed at the Shaykovka base on Monday. It mentioned that an aircraft that was not being used at the airfield got damaged. However, this information has not been officially verified yet.

Another Russian social media account called Mash also talked about the event.

A Ukrainian flying robot landed at an airfield earlier this morning around eight o’clock. The information we have says that there was a helicopter owned by regular people. The helicopter had a homemade bomb and a stronger battery. We saw it in time and shot it down.

Before, the leader of the area, Vladislav Shapsha, said that a drone attack was stopped in the Kirov district. The air base is located about 15 kilometers to the north of the town of Kirov.

Yusov said that Russia was downplaying the incident. At least one airplane is broken. Like in many situations, the Russian government is attempting to keep the actual amount of losses and harm a secret.

The attack on Monday was the second attack on a Russian air base that has important equipment, and it happened within a short period of three days.

Russia’s military department said on Saturday that a drone from Ukraine caused damage to a plane at a military airport in Soltsy, which is located in the northwest Novgorod region. Ukraine did not say anything about that happening.

The Russian ministry said that a drone hit the field on Saturday morning and started a fire. They said they saw the drone and it was shot at by guns. The government did not give any information about how much damage was done, but they stated that nobody got hurt.

A study by CNN using pictures from satellites found that the base was used to store very fast bombers called Tu-22M3.

A picture from August 8 shows several Tu-22 bombers parked there. A picture from August 21 seems to indicate that the ground where one of the Tu-22M3 planes was parked was burnt, but the other aircraft seem to have been relocated.

Two pictures on social media found by CNN show a plane on fire in the same place.

Russian bases have been attacked recently, according to Ukrainian media. The attacks destroyed a few airplanes, including two bombers. These claims were made by Ukrainian defense intelligence officials who were not named.

According to a group called the Institute for the Study of War, some military bloggers from Russia said that Ukrainian forces used a cheap and small drone to carry out the attack. They also criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense for not keeping the drone in safe hangars.

The ISW said that damaging or destroying two Tu-22M3 bombers will not have a big military impact. However, the reaction of Russian military bloggers shows that it helps the larger Ukrainian efforts to lower Russian morale.