Overnight from Monday to Tuesday Ukraine carried out a large, complex overnight strike that hit multiple Russian military and industrial sites spread hundreds of kilometres apart, Stefan Korshak writes in Kyiv Post.
Dozens of drones and missiles targeted an airfield, a bomber repair plant, a kamikaze drone factory, an air defense unit, and two oil refineries. The attacks involved Bars jet-powered drones, Neptune cruise missiles, and other long-range propeller-driven drones.
Strikes landed in Taganrog, Novorossiysk, and Tuapse, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. In Taganrog, drones and possibly missiles damaged the Beriev TANTK aircraft plant, which services Tu-95MS bombers and A-50 surveillance planes. Russian outlet Astra reported explosions and large fires at the site.
Ukrainian sources claimed up to six Tu-95MS bombers might have been inside the plant during the attack. Social media images showed major fires, and reports said the Atlant Aero drone factory in Taganrog was also hit. One strike hit an A-60 airborne surveillance aircraft on the Taganrog military airfield’s eastern end, igniting its fuel.
Aircraft monitors identified the burning plane as RA-86879, likely rendering the experimental radar-testing aircraft a total loss.
(Photo by General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine)