Around 6 a.m. on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at least three explosions hit Dyagilevo air base in Ryazan Oblast, roughly 100 miles southeast of Moscow, according to a report by the Kyiv Post. Two hours later Ukrainian drones went after Engels, 337 miles away. A third strike reached Olenya, near Finland.
The three bases are among the places where Russia keeps its long-range bombers, and the raids showed how far apart they sit.
Dyagilevo: the training base
Dyagilevo serves as a training center for Russia’s strategic bomber force. The Kyiv Post lists Tu-95MS, Tu-22M3, Tu-134UBL and Il-78 aircraft there, along with an aircraft repair plant. It had been hit before. Ukraine attacked Dyagilevo and Engels on December 5, 2022, and The Defense Post reported three Russian soldiers dead and damage to at least one Tu-22M3 and possibly a Tu-95MS. Ukrainian forces had converted a Soviet-made Tu-141 Strizh reconnaissance drone into the strike weapon.
After the July 2024 attack, the Astra Telegram channel published video and photographs of smoke columns over the base. A Ryazan resident told the Kyiv Post the blasts were audible from home.
Engels: the main western base
Engels sits in Saratov Oblast, about 700 kilometers from Ukraine. It is home to the 326th Heavy Bomber Division and the 182nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, and it hosts a squadron of Tu-160 Blackjack supersonic bombers. Aircraft from Engels had been striking Ukrainian infrastructure since October 2022.
The base came under repeated fire in December 2022. On December 26, Russian air defense reportedly shot down a drone approaching it; debris fell on technical servicemen, killing three and injuring four. Another drone was then downed with no casualties. Satellite imagery analyzed by The Warzone showed reduced activity at the airfield afterward.
Moving the fleet east
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said in early January 2023 that Moscow had pulled its Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 bombers back to Primorsky Krai, 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles) from the Ukrainian border. About six Tu-95 aircraft had left Engels. “The enemy began to hide them. They understand that Ukraine can get them deep,” Danilov said, adding: “if necessary, we will also reach the Far East.”
Olenya
In the July 2024 raid, the strike on Olenya in Murmansk Oblast, far in Russia’s north, was the one a Ukrainian intelligence source said succeeded, crippling a Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic bomber. The source said the outcome at Engels still needed clarifying. Russia’s Defense Ministry said only that it had shot down at least 12 kamikaze drones over Kursk, Belgorod, Rostov, Bryansk and Lipetsk regions.
Sources
- Russia Moves Strategic Bombers to Far East Following Ukraine Drone Attacks
- Ukrainian Drones Attack 3 Russian Air Bases, Damage Supersonic Bomber, Source Says
