Based on the primary experiences, at the very least two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers had been broken within the assault.

Engels-2 airbase, situated in Saratov Oblast, some 400 km southeast of Moscow and roughly 700 km from the border with Ukraine, got here underneath assault early within the morning on Dec. 5, 2022. Photos recorded by CCTV cameras and shared on Telegram present an enormous explosion occurring at 06:04AM LT. Early experiences say three folks had been killed, six wounded and two Tu-95 strategic bombers had been broken on account of the air strike.

#war Russian near-military telegram channels report an explosion on the strategic bomber Air base within the Saratov area. We’re speaking about two broken bombers.
There is no such thing as a official affirmation from the🇷🇺MoD.

Nobody can really feel protected in battle. pic.twitter.com/mgUrPsCBWk

— Capt(N) (@Capt_Navy) December 5, 2022

Engels-2 is among the key Russian airbases and the house of the 121st & 184th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiments, respectively working the Russian Aerospace Forces Tu-160M Blackjack and Tu-95M Bear strategic bombers. The airfield has been used to launch lots of the Moscow’s air strikes with Kh-101 cruise missiles within the latest weeks: satellite tv for pc imagery launched few days in the past confirmed 8 Tu-95s and 4 Tu-160Ms parked side-by-side at Engel-2.

After experiences in Russian army channels that Ukraine drones destroyed two strategic Tu-95 bombers and crew deep in Russia’s rear, in Engels, now Ukraine experiences that 14 different Tu-95 have taken off from that army airport. Might be a revenge assault, or simply maintaining them protected.

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) December 5, 2022

One other explosion additionally hit Russian army base close to town of Ryazan, killing three folks and wounding 5. Reportedly, the blast in Ryazan was attributable to the detonation of a gas truck.

One other explosion reported at Russia’s Dyagilevo Air Base in Ryazan.

A gas tanker exploded, killing three. pic.twitter.com/kVKYQTHwCF

— Conflict Report (@clashreport) December 5, 2022

On the time of writing, the Russian MOD has not launched any assertion on the incidents nor has the Ukrainians claimed accountability for the alleged assaults, so the state of affairs is unclear, regardless of many shops are suggesting the explosion in Engels-2 was the results of a Ukrainian lengthy vary drone strike.

Ukrainian firm Ukrobonoprom has not too long ago developed and efficiently examined a suicide drone with a 75 kg warhead and a variety as much as 1,000 km. “After we efficiently take a look at the drone underneath the EW affect, we hope to have the ability to take a look at it in fight use. We promised to take action by the top of this yr, and we are attempting to stay as much as that promise,” mentioned the corporate spokeswoman, Natalia Unhappy, yesterday.

David Cenciotti is a journalist primarily based in Rome, Italy. He’s the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of many world’s most well-known and browse army aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for main worldwide magazines, together with Air Forces Month-to-month, Fight Plane, and plenty of others, protecting aviation, protection, battle, business, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown a number of fight planes with completely different air forces. He’s a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Power, a personal pilot and a graduate in Laptop Engineering. He has written 5 books and contributed to many extra ones.