Explosions at Russian airbases can disrupt strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, - ISW
The explosions at two strategic airfields in Russia on December 5 could derail the Kremlin’s campaign to launch massive missile strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure and power grids.
This is the conclusion reached by analysts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Censor.NET reports.
In their opinion, Ukrainian forces likely struck two Russian strategic air bases, Engels-2 and Diaghilev, on December 5, causing minor damage to the airfields and "demonstrating Ukraine's ability to strike Russian rears and possibly disrupt a campaign of strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure".
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and a number of bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces used UAVs to carry out strikes on the Engels-2 air base in the Saratov region (approximately 507 kilometers from the territory of Ukraine) and the Diaghilev air base in the Ryazan region (approximately 724 kilometers from the territory of Ukraine ).
Both air bases are home to elements of Russia's strategic bomber fleet, which Russia used to launch strikes against Ukraine throughout the war.
At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities have not yet officially taken responsibility for the strikes.
Russian sources claim that a Ukrainian drone struck a plane at the Engels-2 air base in the Saratov region of the Russian Federation, damaging strategic bombers and missile carriers.
Sources in the Russian Federation also say that a Ukrainian drone destroyed a Russian fuel tanker at the Diaghilev Air Base in Russia's Ryazan Region.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia stated that the attack was carried out deliberately against the Russian long-range aircraft.
"Ukrainian forces probably sought to thwart Russian strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure and demonstrate Ukraine's ability to strike Russian strategic targets," the article says.
ISW also notes that anger over the inability of the Russian military to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian strategic air bases more than 450 km from Ukrainian positions outweighed praise for the latest round of strikes on Ukraine in the Russian blogging community.
Russian "militants" criticized Russian officials for not predicting and preventing drone strikes on the Engels-2 and Diaghilev air bases on December 5. Some of them emphasized that the Russian military did not protect the air bases properly, despite the fact that they "knew that they were clear targets for Ukrainian strikes."
Several well-known Russian bloggers claimed that Ukrainian subversive intelligence groups should have struck the Engels-2 air base from Russian territory, claiming that either Ukrainian DRGs were operating on Russian territory, or if the UAVs were launched from Ukrainian territory - that Moscow was under threat from Ukrainian territory.
Russian bloggers also called on the Russian military to authorize massive retaliatory strikes against Ukraine and intensify counter-terrorist measures on the territory of Russia.
The military community complained that the Russian military ignored their suggestions and ignored open source intelligence (OSINT), and that if Russian officials had heeded their warnings, the two strikes on Russian military bases likely could have been prevented.
Some "warfare" suggested that the strikes on the Engels-2 and Diaghilev air bases threatened Russia's legitimacy as a nuclear power, as the strikes damaged aircraft capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads.
Earlier on December 5, it was reported that explosions occurred at Russian military airfields in the Saratov region and near Ryazan, resulting in damage to aircraft.
The Russian Ministry of Defense blamed Ukraine for the attack. The Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that the explosions were "confirmation of the degradation" of the military infrastructure of the Russian Federation.
