Ukrainian Drones Strike Second Russian Fighter Jet Base in Three Days

Ukrainian drones struck Russia's Morozovsk military air base in the Rostov region overnight, according to local reports, marking the second attack on a Russian fighter jet base in three days.

Ukraine has frequently attacked Russian military bases using long-range drones. Kyiv says they are legitimate targets in the ongoing war between the two countries that began in February 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

Footage and images circulating on social media in the early hours of Monday morning appeared to show smoke rising above the Morozovsk military airfield; it hosts Russian tactical Su-27 and Su-34 bombers, used to launch airstrikes against Ukraine, according to Ukraine's SBU security service. Newsweek could not verify the authenticity of the footage.

Explosions could be heard in eyewitness videos that showed drones flying over the southern Russian region.

"A UAV struck a military airfield in Morozovsk, Rostov Oblast. A fire broke out there, but there are no other details at this time," the Astra Telegram channel, a project run by independent Russian journalists, reported.

Local residents said that they heard explosions near the military airfield, Ukrainian TV channel 24 Kanal reported.

Russian and Ukrainian officials haven't commented on the reported attack. Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry and the SBU for comment by email.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that air defense systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones over the Rostov region.

The air base was previously targeted by Ukraine's SBU in April. An SBU source told Reuters at the time that a joint attack conducted by Kyiv intelligence, and Ukraine's military destroyed six Russian warplanes and damaged eight others stationed at the jet base at the time of the attack.

On Saturday, Ukrainian media reported that Kyiv had launched drone strikes on Russia's Millerovo air base, which is also located in the Rostov region.

Vasily Golubev, the regional governor, said on his Telegram channel that 26 drones had been shot down.

Satellite images published by the Russian-language service of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project on Sunday purportedly showed a damaged hangar at the Millerovo air base.

The images were shared by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Mark Krutov, who said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday: "There are 3 fire marks: 1) a maintenance hangar, 2) a fire in an open field, and 3) a fuel depot."

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