Airbase housing Putin’s prized £130m supersonic Blackjack bombers deep in Russian territory ‘hit by Ukrainian kamikaze drones’

Ukraine has hit a key Russian air base used for nuclear bombers in a nighttime kamikaze drone attack as part of a consolidated aerial bombardment of several border regions.

The “explosions and fire” at the airbase came as pro-Putin sources also accused Kiev of attacking a nuclear power plant in the Kursk region.

Explosions were heard late last night at the Engels air base in the Saratov region, home to Vladimir Putin’s Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’, Tu-95 ‘Bear’ and Tu-22 attack aircraft.

All of these aircraft can carry nuclear missiles, but have been used to bomb Ukraine with conventional bombs over the past two years of the war.

Independent Russian media outlet Astra said sources indicated that three of four kamikaze drones struck the Engels-2 airbase, with multiple explosions from the drones picked up by security cameras.

Ukrainian media today confirmed that GUR military intelligence had carried out the attacks.

Regional governor Roman Busargin claimed that all incoming Ukrainian drones had been ‘eliminated’ over English – but locals gave conflicting statements.

A Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’ strategic bomber

Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-95MS in flight

Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-22

‘The air defense system worked quickly and effectively. There were no casualties or damage to infrastructure from falling debris,” Busargin emphasized.

But resident Danil Arkhipov told the media this morning: ‘I live very close to the airport. It was hit when the others were shot down by air defenses.

‘Then the ambulance, police and fire brigade were seen with flashing lights.

‘The emergency siren is still screaming and something is quietly exploding at the airport. Looks like something’s burning.’

Russian news media also claimed that Ukraine had attacked the Kurchatov nuclear power plant in the Kursk region with at least five kamikaze drones and one S-200 missile.

They were all shot down by air defenses, pro-Kremlin Mash media reported. But the Vysoka electrical substation was hit, leaving part of the city of Kursk blackened.

Ukraine has said it will never attack a nuclear power plant, but Russian paramilitary partisans opposed to Putin in Ukraine have warned they will attack military targets in the Kursk region.

Meanwhile, the Belgorod border region was again under siege by Ukraine today, after enduring a series of shelling and drone attacks in recent weeks.

About 9,000 children are to be evacuated from the region that Putin has failed to keep safe, and travel restrictions are being introduced to minimize casualties.

Despite a shortage of Western weapons, Ukraine has achieved significant success in recent weeks with its homemade kamikaze drones – both in the air and at sea – using its long-range firepower to strike deep behind Russian lines and destroy oil refineries, depots, production facilities and supply lines To hit. .

The attacks on border regions of Belgorod and Kursk have raised alarm among locals and government officials, especially after groups claiming to be Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin also launched cross-border raids.

FILE PHOTO: Satellite photo from Maxar Technologies shows several Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers at Engels airfield

Russian news media also claimed that Ukraine had attacked the Kurchatov nuclear power plant in the Kursk region with at least five kamikaze drones and one S-200 missile.

Ukrainian soldiers unload explosive charges in the Adiivka front line as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues in Adiivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on March 13, 2024

A still image from the handout provided by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense shows destroyed military equipment of sabotage and reconnaissance groups of Ukraine at the border crossing near the Nekhoteevka settlement, Belgorod region, Russia, March 12, 2024

Regional governors Vyacheslev Gladkov and Roman Stavropoit last week reported several civilian casualties as a result of Ukrainian-induced strikes on their territories, with thousands of residents reportedly fleeing their homes ahead of this weekend’s presidential election.

The attacks continued into this week, with three people injured in an attack on Belgorod yesterday morning, Gladkov said, including a 14-year-old who had part of a limb amputated. His mother was also reportedly injured in the attack.

According to Gladkov, four members of the same family were killed the day before in an attack on the village of Nikolskoye in Belgorod.

A grandmother, mother, her partner and 17-year-old son were killed after a rocket struck their home, he said.

Putin said he would consider establishing a buffer zone between Ukrainian and Russian territory in an effort to reduce the effectiveness of airstrikes in Kiev.

“We will be forced at some point, when we deem it necessary, to create a certain ‘sanitary zone’ in the areas controlled by the (Ukrainian government),” Putin said late on Sunday after the publication of election results which showed him securing a fifth six-year term in a landslide.

This ‘security zone would be very difficult to penetrate using the foreign-made means of attack at the enemy’s disposal.’

Russia has also stepped up its airstrikes on several Ukrainian towns and cities in recent weeks.

The Ukrainian Air Force said it had last night intercepted 17 of the 22 Shahed drones that Russia launched over several regions of the country.

Russia also fired five S-300/S-400 missiles at the Kharkov region and two Kh-59 at the Sumy region, both in northeastern Ukraine.

Authorities say the intensity of ground attacks and airstrikes has increased recently in the Sumy region, prompting the evacuation of 56 people, including 26 children, from a border village over the past week.

In the past two and a half months, the region has been hit more than 3,000 times, after some 8,000 attacks throughout the past year, Ukraine’s regional government says.