An aircraft was “destroyed” at an air base deep inside Russia over the weekend, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said on Monday, stopping short of claiming overt responsibility while coyly saying that “every crime against the Ukrainian people will be duly repaid.”
The Tu-134 airliner went up in flames in Russia’s southwestern Orenburg region overnight between Saturday and Sunday, Kyiv’s GUR spy agency said in a statement. The aircraft was used to transport senior Russian defense ministry officials, the GUR said.
“A devastating fire broke out,” the GUR said. The aircraft belonged to Russia’s 117th Military Transport Aviation Regiment, housed at the Orenburg-2 air base, according to the agency. The base is roughly 780 miles from the front lines snaking through eastern Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent reported on Monday.
The Russian defense ministry did not report Ukrainian activity in the Orenburg region over the weekend. There has been no statement from Orenburg regional governor, Denis Pasler, on his Telegram social media channel.
The GUR published footage purportedly showing the fire, with a blaze visible in the brief nighttime clip close to what appears to be the nose of an aircraft. A zoomed-out shot looks to show the fire spreading and heavy smoke.
Newsweek could not independently verify when or where the video was recorded. The Russian Defense Ministry has been contacted for comment via email.
Ukraine has doggedly targeted Moscow’s air bases, both in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine and in internationally-recognized Russian territory.
Earlier this month, Kyiv zeroed in on the Khanskaya military airfield in the North Caucasus republic of Adygea, which houses Russian Su-27 and Su-34 jets. Ukraine struck an ammunition warehouse, sparking a fire, Kyiv’s General Staff said in a statement.
Among Ukraine’s other targets over the border have been the Engels-2 base and its long-range bombers in the Saratov region, and the Kushchyovskaya air base in Krasnodar.
Kyiv has repeatedly homed in on key airfields and air bases in Crimea, which Moscow has controlled since it annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine has used a combination of drone and missile strikes to hit the Belbek and Saky airfields and other facilities on the peninsula, like the Dzhankoi airfield to the north.
In July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to reference strikes on the Saky air base in western Crimea, saying in an address that “every destroyed Russian air base, every destroyed Russian military aircraft—whether on the ground or in the air—saves Ukrainian lives.”
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