The report of the Ministry of Defence of Great Britain noted on December 6, 2022, that Russia would likely temporarily redeploy heavy bombers to dispersed airfields after the explosions at Engels Air Force Base, in Russia’s Saratov region, and Dyagilevo airfield near Ryazan, south-east of Moscow on December 5, 2022.
Source: The Ministry of Defence of Great Britain, American Institute for the study of war (ISW)
“Two Tu-95 BEAR heavy bombers were reportedly damaged at Engels and three people were killed when a fuel tank exploded at Dyagilevo,” noted the British Defence.
According to the British Defence, the causes of the explosions have not been confirmed.
“However, if Russia assesses the incidents were deliberate attacks, it will probably consider them as some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine,” noted the Ministry of Defence of Great Britain.
Engels is the main operational base of Russia’s Long Range Aviation in the west of the country, where more than 30 heavy bombers are based.
“The sites are much deeper inside Russia than previous similar explosions: Engels is over 600km from Ukrainian-controlled territory. These aircraft contribute to Russia’s nuclear deterrent and have also frequently been used to launch conventional cruise missiles at Ukraine,” explained the British Ministry of Defence.
At the same time, according to ISW (American Institute for the study of war) experts, Ukrainian forces likely hit the Engels-2 and Dyagilevo strategic air bases, demonstrating Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian rears and possibly disrupt a campaign of strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense and several milbloggers reported that Ukrainian forces used UAVs to strike the Engels-2 airbase in Saratov Oblast (approximately 315 miles from Ukrainian territory) and the Dyagilevo Air Base in Ryazan Oblast (approximately 285 miles from Ukrainian territory),” noted the experts of ISW.
However, Andrii Yusov, the representative of the main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, said that Ukraine could not confirm or deny involvement in the drone attacks on Russian air bases.
According to a Ukrainian mil.in.ua news publication, as a result of the drone attack on the strategic aviation base of the Russian Federation in Dyagilevo, the Tu-22M3 supersonic missile carrier was damaged. It was equipped with a Kh-22 cruise missile and was probably preparing to participate in the shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. According to Russian media, two planes were damaged at the Engels air base.
See also: Explosion took place at the airfield in Russian city of Kursk (Video)
