Ukraine on Monday said it destroyed a Russian warplane capable of launching devastating glide bombs in long-range strikes on an airbase over the weekend.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency published satellite images showing the aftermath of a strike on Saturday at Russia’s Morozovsk airbase, located some 165 miles from the front lines. Kyiv initially said it hit facilities storing glide bombs and other munitions.
The new imagery revealed extensive damage to the airbase, including craters, scorch marks, burned ground, and other debris caused by the explosions and ensuing fires. Ukraine appeared to carry out the attack with drones.
According to the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence, an arm of the country’s defense ministry, also known as the HUR, the attack destroyed one Su-34 fighter-bomber and likely damaged two more. The aircraft can be clearly seen in the imagery.
Russia’s Su-34 fighter-bombers are capable of launching glide bombs, highly destructive munitions that have been wreaking havoc on Ukrainian cities and troop positions.
Glide bombs are equipped with special kits that convert dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions. These weapons come in various sizes and are in heavy use by the Russians. Among them is a bomb weighing over 6,000 pounds that delivers tremendous destruction on impact.
The glide bombs are almost impossible to intercept because they have small radar signatures, travel on non-ballistic trajectories, and have fairly short flight times.
The only way really for Ukraine to defeat the glide bombs is to either take out the Russian warplane before it drops its payload or strike the aircraft on the ground. Kyiv appears to have done the latter in the strike on the Morozovsk airbase.
The HUR said it also destroyed Russia’s aviation arsenal in Saturday’s strike and that the secondary detonation of ammunition caused large areas of burned earth on and around the base, which can be seen in the satellite images.
The strike also damaged four facilities and two hangers at the base, which are visible in the imagery, the HUR said.
It is not the first time Ukraine has gone after the Morozovsk airbase; it struck the site with drones in April and June. The repeated attacks suggest Kyiv is specifically trying to mitigate the Russian glide-bomb threat that has been such a problem.
Ukraine has relied on domestically produced long-range drones to hit military and energy targets inside Russian territory. It faces restrictions on using Western missiles, including US-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to strike beyond its borders.
Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have repeatedly lobbied to remove such restrictions, arguing that they are holding Kyiv back from effectively being able to defend itself.
“We must protect the lives of our people and end the war on Ukrainian terms,” Zelenskyy said Saturday.
“Every strike that accurately responds to Russia’s aerial bombs, that destroys Russian logistics and bases, that makes it more difficult for the occupier to stay on our land — every such strike brings the just end to the war closer,” he added.
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