Ukraine is claiming to have destroyed at least six warplanes at an airfield in Russia in a major drone attack Friday.
Another eight aircraft were damaged in the attack at the military installation near Morozovsk in Russia’s Rostov region bordering Ukraine, officials told the Associated Press. Regional Gov. Vasily Golubev warned late Thursday that local air defenses were “repelling a massive UAV attack,” later claiming that eight people were injured near the airfield “as a result of the detonation of an explosive device on one of the fallen UAVs.”
Golubev’s posts about the attack made no mention about aircraft being destroyed or damaged, only that a substation had sustained “minor damage” leaving about 600 locals without power in the morning. Windows in an apartment building were broken, he added, and some other minor damage was incurred at a private farmstead.
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Ukrainian intelligence officials, on the other hand, told the AP that around 20 airfield personnel had been killed or injured. They said that the operation had been carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service in conjunction with its army.
“Front-line bombers Su-27 and Su-34 were based at the airfield—these are the types of aircraft the Russian Federation uses to drop guided air bombs on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and front-line Ukrainian cities,” a source told Interfax-Ukraine. The source said the attack was an “important special operation” which “will significantly reduce the combat potential” of Moscow.
Videos shared online purportedly of the overnight attack appear to show multiple fiery explosions and ground defenses engaging targets overhead.
If the Ukrainian reports are accurate, the operation would rank among Kyiv’s most successful cross-border strikes since the war began in Feb. 2022. Ukraine claimed to have destroyed nine Russian helicopters with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles in an attack targeting two airfields last October. That operation came two months after reports emerged of a Russian supersonic bomber being blown up using an inexpensive drone.
On Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its air defenses had destroyed 44 drones in Rostov. It said much smaller numbers of drones had also been brought down in Saratov, Kursk, Belgorod, and Krasnodar.
Ukraine has increased its attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, predominantly targeting oil facilities to undermine Moscow’s substantial revenues from natural resources. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has continued to call on Western allies to supply Kyiv with more air defense systems amid the ongoing threat Russia poses to Ukraine with drone attacks of its own.
Officials said four people were killed in Kharkiv—Ukraine’s second-largest city—on Thursday when Russia launched Iranian-made Shahed drones at the city.
Zelensky said three of those killed were rescuers from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. “They arrived at the scene after the first strike and then the second hit occurred,” he said. “A vile Russian tactic.”
