The Russian Federation was forced to transfer long-range aviation from Engels-2 airfield to the Far East. This will greatly complicate missile attacks on Ukraine.
The British Ministry of Defense reported this on Twitter.
As noted in the summary, on December 27, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksii Danilov said that Russia had transferred Tu-95MS BEAR heavy bombers and Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE long-range aviation (LRA) medium bombers to the Far East.
According to British intelligence, on December 5 and 26, the LRA air base in Engels was struck, several planes were damaged. Russia most likely responded to the incidents by conducting a general dispersal of LRA aircraft, especially at airfields further from Ukraine.
The LRA will still be able to launch air-based cruise missiles over the territory of Ukraine, as the range of these weapons is 5,000 km in addition to the range of bombers.
"However, flying from deployment locations will add additional maintenance burden and further deplete the limited number of flight hours available on these aging aircraft," the MoD said.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on the night of Monday, December 26, a powerful explosion occurred at the Engels-2 airfield in the Saratov Oblast.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that the air base was allegedly attacked by a Ukrainian drone. The Russian agency reported that air defense equipment allegedly neutralized a drone launched by Ukraine, but its debris led to the death of three soldiers.
According to Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Zolkin, five Tu-95MS bombers were damaged at the Engels-2 airfield on Monday. 17 people were also allegedly killed, and about 30 others were injured.
Russia has moved its medium-range air defense systems, such as Pantsir, in particular, to the front line. Due to this, the airfields in the deep rear remained unprotected.
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