KYIV – Ukraine launched a major drone strike on Russia’s Engels air base on Thursday, igniting a massive blast and fire roughly 700 km (435 miles) from the front lines, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. Verified footage showed a huge explosion ripping through the area, damaging nearby cottages, while another video captured a towering plume of smoke and intense flames. The Engels air base, home to Russia’s nuclear-capable Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, has been a key launch site for Russian strikes on Ukraine.
Saratov Governor Roman Busargin confirmed a Ukrainian drone attack on Engels, reporting an airfield fire and evacuations, though he did not explicitly name the base. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s defense ministry said its forces hit the airfield, triggering secondary explosions. Russian officials reported 10 injuries and said air defenses had shot down 132 Ukrainian drones across multiple regions. Local residents were surprised to find drone debris in their yards, with reports suggesting Ukraine used PD-2 and Liutyi drones in the attack. Engels has been targeted multiple times since December 2022, with Kyiv previously claiming to have struck an oil depot supporting the base in January.
Russia kills two in east Ukraine, launches more than 170 drones
Russian bombardments of eastern Ukraine killed two people overnight, local authorities said Thursday, while Moscow launched another large-scale drone barrage that wounded 10 and sparked fires hundreds of kilometres from the front. Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up their aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes the Kremlin and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of costly fighting. Ukrainian officials in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions said that two people were killed and several others wounded after Russia dropped more than three dozen glide bombs on the towns in the border regions. The Russian drone attack on the town of Kropyvnytsky, hundreds of kilometers from the front line, wounded 10 people, including four children, and sent plumes of fire and smoke rising over the skyline, according to officials.
The most massive enemy attack. Peaceful residential buildings were destroyed,” regional governor Andriy Raikovych said.
The Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia said its services had been disrupted in the region as a result of shelling.
“This is what a ceasefire from Putin looks like. Russia attacks civilians with great pleasure,” presidential aide Andriy Yermak wrote on social media.
The Ukrainian air force said that the Russian barrage, including on Kropyvnytsky, consisted of 171 drones and that its air defence shot down 75 drones. Another 63 were downed by electronic jamming systems or were lost.
Russia meanwhile said its air defence units had shot down 132 Ukrainian drones in several regions across the country.
The southwestern region of Saratov and its city of Engels “were today subjected to the most massive UAV (drone) attack ever” said its governor Roman Busargin, who added the attack triggered a fire at the Engels airbase.
The attack wounded two people in Engels and damaged schools and a hospital, Russia’s investigative committee said.__The Nation
