Yet another ruski base performs a gesture of goodwill.
Novofedorivka air base is far beyond the range of M270/HIMARS with their regular ammunition. If the reports I've heard of 6-7 separate explosions at the base are accurate, that would indicate that Ukraine now has a long-range precision strike capability that wasn't available before. What form that capability takes is anyone's guess.
There was also a 150km strike, someone must have received new toys
Also this gem
So it was a gesture of goodwill that went a very long way :)
Had a look at Google maps and Novofedorivka looks to have a few fighter jets parked there (somebody with better knowledge could identify them). No idea how old the images are. I don't know what the distance is as the crow flies to Ukraine-held territory outside Kherson, but it looks to be around 300km?
Maybe we should identify them and invite them to take a plane to Russia, where their views might be welcome.
Looks like a mixture of older Su-24 "Fencer" fighter-bombers (light grey with variable-sweep wings) and more modern Su-27 or Su-30 "Flanker" fighters. Interestingly, Novofeodorivka seems to be a base of the Russian Navy rather than the air force, you can see a painted on carrier deck and "Kuznetsov" style ski jump near the northern end of the main ramp.
Something big went boom in Crimea.
Edit: reports coming in that its another ammo dump.
I think ATACMS have a long range.
Lots of vids on Twitter now
Rumoured to be 200-300km range
Another report that possibly the military base was also hit or else secondary explosions from ammo dump.
Said to be the Russian Saki airbase in Crimea
Saki is the name of the district that Novofeodorivka is located in. So it's the same air base as in the other videos and images, just from another angle. Whatever was hit didn't react too well to explosives, obviously...
Maybe someone dropped a cigeratte? Lol
Could also be an internal sabotage attack.
Well, Russian press releases talk about detonating aircraft ammunition, which I have to say is a masterpiece in phrasing, especially since they don't specify the origin of the ammunition 😉
I am wondering, how long can the Russians keep up their operations in Ukraine if the Ukrainians are constantly targeting their ammo dumps, supply routes, command centres and bridges? Is there a point with inventory and logistics simply collapsing with the Russian Army having to withdraw from large pockets of territory simple to survive?
It seems that their offence in the Donbas has completely stalled now for the past month or so.
It depends on the specific HIMARS rockets, they use, some have 300km range.
True, and ATACMS, the missile in question, has been mentioned as a possible "culprit" in this attack. The thing is that ATACMS hasn't been provided to Ukraine yet, at least not officially. Granted, that doesn't mean much, the US only recently admitted to supplying AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles to Ukraine, but we can't rule out a strike with Ukraine's indigenous Neptun SSM either, which does have a land-attack mode. It might even have been an air raid, with HARM available, it would very much be feasible to knock a "hole" into Russian air defense systems through which a strike package could attack. Finally, it could very well be a special forces operation. Judging from Google Maps, perimeter security at the air base does not seem particularly tight, so a spec ops team could likely penetrate the site, especially at night. Place a few timed charges somewhere in a dark corner, get out, and watch the fireworks next morning.
Bottom line is that we don't know for sure how Ukraine attacked. And I think Ukrainian high command would like to keep it that way as long as possible in order to keep the advantage.
What always intrigues me about Russian air bases is that looking at the Google satellite images they seem to leave all the aircraft parked on the apron next to each other out in the open for everyone to see, and bomb!, whereas any NATO bases I've looked at have their aircraft tucked away in, presumably at least partially blast proof, hangars distributed over the base.
The Kremlin propaganda machine is trying to claim the airfield events were accidental but those explosions look huge for something that is supposedly an accident. Have any other military airfields in Europe blown up like this in the last decade?
It might also be possible to fly a suicide drone right into the ammo depo.
None that I can remember, certainly not without some outside "help" in getting the whole conflagration started. And to be perfectly honest, the Kremlin line is about as believable as a 75€ bill. There are some videos that show almost simultaneous explosions at locations that must be a good few hundred meters apart. Unless Russia has some new quantum-entangled explosives, an accident in one ammunition dump should not set up a secondary that far away.
There are actually quite a few ex Soviet air bases in Eastern Germany and the Czech Republic with similar hardened aircraft shelters. Just check out Peenemünde airfield, the former airfield at Brand (just look for Tropical Islands on Google Maps and you'll find it) or Neubrandenburg airport in Germany, or Hradcany airfield in the Czech Republic for example. All these are ex-Soviet air bases that still sport some extensive shelter complexes. From what I understand, the USSR mainly kept their shelters confined to "frontline" bases that were likely to be directly attacked if the cold war ever got hot. Bases like Nova Feodorivka, the one that is currently busy spreading itself over the surrounding countryside, were very much second-line stations that wouldn't have to worry about immediate air attack, hence the rather more open layout.
It is worth noting that the "west" also used these open layouts up until well into the 1960s or early 1970s. Just check out aerial images of bases like Da Nang or Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam dated back to the Vietnam War, and you'll see a lot of open revetments but now hardened shelters.
Some suggestions that the Russians lost a large number of planes and helicopters at the airfield (well into the dozens) with multiple explosions. Looks like this was a quite huge attack by the Ukrainians - no wonder the regime has gone into panicked denials.
Interesting ...
Not just a single explosion btw. Some Ukrainian observers are reporting multiple explosions at the airfield spread out over a considerable distance (suggesting the use of a lot of missiles).
Will be interesting to see the Russians response to this.
12 separate explosions confirmed sky news.
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With Crimea being at the receiving end of such an attack there will be pressure on Russia to respond with a spectacular attack. What are they capable of though beyond a nuke. I don’t think we are in nuke territory yet.
Who knows. I'd say there is a possibility they would go chemical before nuclear but this is obviously a massive widespread success for Ukraine with multiple targets and explosions.
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