Posted on 12/05/2022 2:58:50 AM PST by marcusmaximus
A large explosion was reported to have taken place during the morning of December 5, 2022, at Engels-2, an air base used by Russia for deploying strategic bombers to perform cruise missile attacks on Ukraine. Around the same time, an explosion happened at Dyagilevo, another strategic bomber base in Ryazan region.
Reports published to Russian social media channels claim the explosion at Engels was a drone attack and at least two aircraft were damaged.
Telegram channel “Mobilizatsiya. Volgogradskaya Oblast,” which reports local news, posted a short video which appears to have been filmed by a CCTV camera. A large explosion can be seen in the footage.
Another Russian Telegram channel, Baza, which regularly posts insider information about the country’s government and military, reported that a flying object – presumably a drone – crashed into the base’s runway, damaging two aircraft and injuring two people.
Local news outlet Saratov24 reported that residents of the nearby towns Engels and Saratov heard a loud explosion coming from the direction of the airbase. Several videos of the explosion have been posted on social media, Saratov24 claims.
The second explosion reported at Dyagilevo was caused by a fuel truck, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. Another news agency, RIA Novosti, said two people died and six were injured in the explosion.
The reports do not indicate what caused the fuel truck to explode. However, several Russian military Telegram channels claim both attacks were synchronized acts of sabotage.
Footage claiming to show the explosion at Dyagilevo has also been published online.
(Excerpt) Read more at aerotime.aero ...
The attacks, started in earnest in August 2022, have been credited with disabling large parts of Ukraine’s electricity grid and causing constant blackouts in the country.
Dyagilevo is also a strategic bomber base. Located not far from Moscow, it is the main training center for Russia’s strategic bomber crews.
In the last days of November, additional Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers were transferred to Engels airbase, causing concerns of more and larger attacks.
ping
Video:
The Russian airbase “Engels-2” has been hit. The base is located 400 km Southeast from Moscow. It hosts strategic bombers of Tu-95 and was the launch pad for numerous attacks against Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1599660288113987584
Video of Dyagilevo strike:
Explosions also reported at the Dyagilevo military airfield in Ryazan, Russia.
Some of Russia’s strategic bombers are currently there.
Looks like Ukraine struck 2 air bases deep in Russia today.
Engels air base in Saratov was also hit.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1599678549589303296
Related:
Ukrainian Kamikaze Drone Successfully Passes Testing
The Ukroboronprom arms conglomerate ran a number of successful tests of the Ukrainian strike drone with a 1,000-km range.
https://menafn.com/1105265437/Ukrainian-Kamikaze-Drone-Successfully-Passes-Testing
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These attacks must be deeply alarming to Russia’s military by indicating the vulnerability of crucial strategic bombers located at bases deep in Russia. Even if greater security for those bases suffices to protect them against future attacks, what about Russia’s own electric grid, fuel pipelines, and other vital assets? The calculus of effort and cost between attacker and defender greatly favors the attacker in that security costs can easily be twenty or fifty or a hundred times more than the costs of mounting attacks.
Moscow is now in range of the Ukrainian drones that just hit the two Russian airbases.
The drones were Ukrainian-made, but you’re right. USA and NATO gave Ukraine permission for these attacks because of Putin’s attacks on Ukrainian power and water infrastructure.
Ukraine should strike Moscow infrastructure.
Let russia keep losing equipment, money and let putin keep falling down
I can easily imagine Ukraine combining a wave of attacks on electrical, transportation, and military installations deep inside Russia with a major offensive against Crimea.
If the Russians lost a Tu-95 or 160, that would probably be a psychological game changer. Those can’t realistically be replaced.
Losing their Black Sea flagship wasn’t a game changer. Russian psychology at this point seems irrevocably programmed towards fatalism.
And how do you think Russia will behave when its conventional forces are decimated, leaving it to depend largely upon subs and ICBMs for defense? Backing them into a no-win corner is dangerously foolish.
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