Russian missiles devastate Ukrainian airbase, casting shadows on air defense

Dark days for Ukrainian aviation. According to recordings circulating on the internet, Russian missiles twice - on Thursday and Saturday - struck the airbase near Dnipro and its defending anti-aircraft batteries. As a result, at least three MiG-29 fighters were likely destroyed.

Aviatorskoje Airport is located near Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine, over 100 km from the front line. On Thursday, Russian missiles, likely Iskander 9K720 ballistic missiles with cluster warheads, fell on it.

As a result, at least two MiG-29 fighters, warehouses, and an S-300 anti-aircraft defense battery system located near the base, under Liubymivka, on the east side of the Dnipro River, were destroyed. A Russian reconnaissance drone (probably an Orlan-10) recorded the entire operation, which many analysts interpret as evidence of the weakness of Ukrainian air defense at this point in the war.

Then, on Saturday, on the Fighterbomber channel on Telegram, run by a Russian military pilot, another recording of the Russian missile attack on the same airbase appeared. In the second strike, as the recording description indicates, another MiG-29 was destroyed, the targeting system of the S-300 anti-aircraft battery system (located northeast of Dnipro, near the town of Dniprowskie), and also the 79K6 "Pelikan" radar.

The Saturday attack was likely carried out using two Iskander ballistic missiles, as well as one Kh-35 Uran. Here, too, the whole event was recorded by a Russian drone.

Some observers suggest that the targeted MiGs might have been decoys, but this cannot be verified.