As part of a coordinated aerial assault of several border districts, Ukraine launched a kamikaze drone attack overnight, targeting a strategic Russian airfield that is home to nuclear bombers.
Russian officials have claimed that a nuclear power facility in the Kursk area was also the target of the ‘explosions and flames’ at the airfield.
The air base at Engels in the Saratov area, which houses Vladimir Putin’s Tu-22 strike aircraft, Tu-95 ‘Bear,’ and Tu-160 ‘Blackjack,’ was rocked by explosions late at night on March 20. Although this aircraft can launch nuclear missiles, they have instead utilized standard bombs throughout the two years of conflict with Ukraine.
A Russian news organization said that three of the four kamikaze drones attacked the Engels-2 air base, with security cameras capturing several explosions. Ukrainian media outlets noted that the GUR military intelligence carried out the attacks.
Four drones were shot down over the Saratov area, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry on the social media site Telegram. Three of the four fallen drones reportedly landed on the grounds of the Engels air base. No injuries were reported, but the magnitude of the damage is unknown.
According to Russian media, Ukraine sent an S-200 missile and five kamikaze drones, crashing into the Kursk region’s Kurchatov nuclear power station. Air defense shot them all down, although one struck the Vysoka electric substation, which knocked off power to part of Kursk city.
Despite Ukraine’s assurances that it would never attack a nuclear power plant, Putin’s Ukrainian opponents among Russia’s paramilitary groups have threatened to launch attacks on military installations in the Kursk area.
The area on the boundary of Ukraine has once again besieged Belgorod, launching a series of artillery and drone operations over the last several weeks. The location is set to evacuate some 9,000 children, and limits on travel are being enforced to avoid casualties.
Last week, Ukraine’s homegrown kamikaze drones—either air or sea—had a string of successful missions, using their long-range weapons to launch strikes deep beyond Russian lines, targeting oil refineries, depots, factories, and supply lines.
Putin has indicated that he is contemplating the possibility of establishing a buffer zone separating Russian and Ukrainian territory to mitigate the impact of Kyiv’s aircraft attacks.
