Ukraine Claims Successfully Attacked Russian Nuclear-capable Strategic Bomber Base With Drones

Russia's Tu-160M bomber at the EMERGENCY-2 Air Base. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian intelligence sources said the drone operated by the military intelligence agency GUR managed to attack theGGels Air Base located deep within Russian territory on Wednesday, while Kyiv was conducting an assessment of the damage caused.

"The results are being verified," a Ukrainian source said of the attack.

The Enriques Air Base, located more than 700 kilometers southeast of Moscow, is home to theGGels-2 Air Base, which houses the strategic nuclear-capable Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers.

Meanwhile, regional authorities said Russia's air defense system on Wednesday dropped four drones near the airbase.

"Drones have been eliminated in theangels (city) less than an hour ago. The air defense system works on time and effectively", said Saratov Region Governor Roman Busargin via the Telegram messaging application, quoted from The Moscow Times.

"There were no casualties or damage to infrastructure due to the fall of debris," continued Busargin.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defense system had shot down four drones in the Saratov area overnight.

It is known, this is at least the fourth drone strike in the Saratov region since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Three Russian air force personnel were killed in December 2022, when a drone believed to belong to Ukraine was shot down at Saratov Base.