Ukraine said a recent attack on Russia’s Engels-2 air base destroyed 96 cruise missiles.
Satellite images show blackened craters.
Russia has used the air base to launch regular bomber attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine’s armed forces said that a recent attack on one of Russia’s key military air bases caused a stockpile of 96 air-launched cruise missiles to explode.
Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said Thursday that the missiles were destroyed as the result of a secondary explosion. It’s unclear if any aircraft were hit.
Images of a massive plume of flame and smoke went viral last week after the attack on Russia’s Engels-2 military air base, in the Saratov region, which is used by Russia to launch Tu-95 and Tu-160 bomber attacks on Ukraine.
The missiles had been intended for use in three upcoming operations, Ukraine said.
It added that further strikes took out large fuel reserves intended for the aircraft.
Business Insider was unable to independently confirm the statement.
Taking out 96 cruise missiles would be an impressive achievement. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that Russia’s air-launched cruise missiles, depending on their type, cost between $500,000 and $1 million each.
Before-and-after satellite images of Engels-2 showed large, blackened craters and damaged bunkers as of March 21.
A closer view of craters and destroyed bunkers after the attack at Engels on March 21.Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies
The region’s governor, Roman Busargin, said the strike was the largest to date in the region.
While Russian authorities typically do not give out numbers of strikes, Busargin said that 54 Ukrainian drones had been shot down in the attack.
The March 20 strike, around 450 miles away from unoccupied Ukrainian territory, comes as part of Kyiv’s campaign to degrade the Russian military and energy infrastructure that fuels the war effort.
It was the latest in a string of attacks that targeted the base.
In January, Ukraine said it had conducted its “largest ever” attack on Russian military facilities, hitting an oil storage facility for refueling the planes at Engels-2 in the process. That was its second attack on Engels in a week.
More recently, a likely drone attack set ablaze the Kavkazskaya oil pumping station in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai for a full week, putting it out of action for the foreseeable future.
Ukraine said that the strike on Engels-2 took out a chunk of Russian firepower, but military analysts have long warned that, despite sanctions, Russia has few barriers when it comes to resupplying itself with missiles.
Analysis of Russian cruise missile strikes show that Moscow has launched up to 223 missiles a month against Ukrainian targets since late 2022.
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