Blasts rocked one of Russia’s strategic bomber bases in the city of Engels in the Saratov region overnight, according to local reports.
Powerful explosions were heard in the area of the Engels-2 air base, which houses Russian Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers, Ukraine’s 24 Kanal reported.
Russia’s Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers are capable of carrying out nuclear and conventional long-range strikes, and have repeatedly been used by Russia’s military to launch missile attacks on Ukraine.
The military base is located some 500 miles southeast of Moscow, and it has been targeted several times throughout the war.
Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Kyiv has said that Russian military bases are legitimate targets in the conflict, and its forces regularly target them using long-range drones. Attacks on Russian soil are typically claimed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).
Russian authorities haven’t commented on the reported attack. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment via email.
Several Telegram channels and 24 Kanal shared footage that purportedly shows the moment explosions were heard in the region.
“Explosions at the Engels airfield in the Saratov region,” Andriy Tsaplienko, a Ukrainian journalist, said on his Telegram channel, sharing video footage, noting that Russia’s military houses Tu-95 bombers at the air base.
“While it is not clear what caused the explosions, we will continue to follow,” Tsaplienko wrote.
🇷🇺Engels-2 Airbase🇷🇺
Let’s see what tomorrow brings but Sentinel 2📷 from 15 September gives a clue as to what was thereTu-22, Tu-95, T-160 + a transport (An-12 maybe in yellow circle)
ID is informed by high res from 14 September https://t.co/746bEjKbkZ pic.twitter.com/0x5G3OBCoq
— MT Anderson (@MT_Anderson) September 16, 2024
In March, Ukrainian drones targeted the base while 11 aircraft, including nine bombers—six Tu-95s and three Tu-160s—were stationed there, Krym.realii reported.
RBC-Ukraine, citing unnamed sources, said that the HUR was behind that attack.
In January, the Russian Defense Ministry said a drone had been downed over the Saratov region. Astra, a Telegram channel run by independent journalists, said at the time that two drones were shot down over the Engels-2 air base.
And in December 2022, a drone attack at the air base killed six Russian military personnel. The Russian Defense Ministry said air-defense systems had shot down the drones and that the military personnel died as a result of falling debris.
Russia appears to have adopted measures to protect its aircraft from Ukrainian attacks.
A satellite image dated September 1, 2023, posted on X (formerly Twitter) by user Tatarigami_UA, a self-described Ukrainian military officer in the reserves, showed Russia’s military had covered the wings of a Tu-95 strategic bomber with car tires.
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