Two Tu-95 Bombers damaged, Three Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack at Two Russian Airbases

Three Tu-95 strategic bombers are likely damaged in separate blasts at two Russian airfields this morning, state and independent media outlets reported Monday.

The Russian MoD said two aircraft were slightly damaged while three servicemen were killed and four injured.

In the first, two Tu-95s were damaged as a kamikaze drone exploded at the Engels airfield in western Russia’s Saratov region, a report in the Astra Telegram news channel reported, citing unnamed sources.
In the second incident, a fuel tanker explosion caused three deaths and six injuries at an airfield in the Dyagilevo airbase in Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited unnamed emergency officials as saying Monday. Dyagilevo, the only air base in the Ryazan region, is also home to Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers.
Engels base hosts Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers and is located 500 kilometers east of Ukraine’s border. Russian bombers launching missile attacks at Ukrainian infrastructure are believed to have been operarated from these bases.

Satellite images published last week showed around two dozen Tu-95s and Tu-160s parked at the Engels airfield, which Western media outlets said were part of Russia’s preparations for massive airstrikes on Ukraine.
While Ukraine has not claimed responsiblity for the attacks some of its top officials were quick to report the incident on their respective social media channels.
According to Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, “Some sources report that this morning planes based on Engels and Ryazan airfields were scheduled to bomb Ukrainian energy infrastructure yet again,” Gerashchenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app Monday.