Ukraine destroys warplanes in missile strike at Russian air base

UKRAINE destroyed six Russian aircraft and damaged eight more in an attack on the Morozovsk airfield, intelligence sources reported on Friday.

Residents claimed to have witnessed at least 60 explosions in the early morning raid.

Footage of the incident appeared to show tracer fire from air defence units lighting up the night skies above the airfield, with at least one large explosion on the ground.

Vasily Golubev, the governor of Russia’s Rostov region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app: “Air defence forces destroyed more than 40 targets in the Morozovsky region. As a result of the attack, an electrical substation was damaged. Work is underway to restore power supply.”

He later added: “No people were injured as a result of a night drone attack in the Morozovsky district. The substation suffered minor damage. Due to damage to power lines, about 600 residents were left without power supply in the morning.

“Citizens’ property suffered minor damage. In the 16-apartment building, windows in several apartments were broken. The fence and outbuildings on the private farmstead were damaged.”

Morozovsk is a military airfield in Russia’s Rostov Oblast, almost two miles southwest of the city of Morozovsk.

It is usually home to Moscow’s 559th Guards Bomber Regiment, which has used its fleet of Su-24s and Su-34s to strike over the border in Ukraine.

Satellite imagery taken on Thursday and analysed by open source researchers appeared to show at least 30 Russian fighter jets and bombers stationed at the base shortly before the Ukrainian attack.

Sources from Ukraine’s SBU security services told the Kyiv Post that it believed at least six planes had been destroyed and eight heavily damaged.