JAKARTA - Ukraine attacked a Russian strategic bomber air base inGGels, Saratov on a drone on Thursday, triggering a major explosion and fire of about 700 km (435 miles) from the front lines of the war, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
Russia's defense ministry said air defenses had shot down 132 Ukrainian unmanned aircraft in Russian territory, quoted from Reuters on March 21.
Videos verified by Reuters showed a massive explosion spreading from the airfield, destroying nearby huts.
Other verified videos show giant plumes of smoke billowing into the dawn sky and intense fires.
TheGGels Air Base, which has existed since the Soviet era, has homebase Russia's heavy nuclear-capable strategic bomber Tupolev Tu-160, known unofficially as the White Swans.
Governor of Saratov Roman Busargin said there had been an attack on a Ukrainian drone in the city of Enriques that caused the airfield to catch fire, and residents nearby had been evacuated. He did not specifically mention the EMgels airbase, but it was the main airfield in the area.
Telegram Shot channel said Ukraine attackedgels with PD-2 and Liutyi unmanned aircraft.
Engels District Head Maxim Leonov said a local state of emergency had been declared but did not provide many details.
Ten people were injured in the attack, local officials said. Some local residents expressed surprise when they found various parts of the Ukrainian drone in their garden.
Reuters could not independently confirm what had happened at the airfield.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said its troops had attacked the airfield and triggered a secondary ammunition explosion.
SEE ALSO:
-
| BERITA
Tim Pakar Rusia dan AS akan Bertemu di Riyadh untuk Membahas Konflik Ukraina
20 Maret 2025, 17:15
Kyiv said Russia had used the EMeliss base to carry out attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine has carried out previous attacks on the Enriques airbase since December 2022. In January, Ukraine claimed to have attacked an oil depot serving the base, which caused a massive fire that took five days to shut down.
A Ukrainian security source said at the time, a drone strike had attacked a storage facility storing guided bombs and missiles at the Angels base.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
