Ukraine drone strikes hit Engels air base and Rosneft Saratov refinery overnight
Ukraine's General Staff confirmed drone strikes overnight on Engels air base, home to Russia's Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers, and on Rosneft's Saratov refinery. A fire broke out at the base, which Russia uses to launch missile strikes on Ukraine. Per Bloomberg, Kyiv Independ
Ukraine's military struck two significant targets inside Russia overnight: Engels air base in Saratov Oblast, home to the Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers that have carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian cities throughout the war, and Rosneft's oil refinery in the same region. Ukraine's General Staff confirmed both strikes, and a fire broke out at the air base as a result. The refinery strike is the latest in a campaign that has hit Russian fuel-producing infrastructure on a near-daily basis in recent weeks, part of Kyiv's strategy to squeeze the revenue and logistics that sustain Russia's war effort. Engels, meanwhile, is one of only a handful of bases capable of housing Russia's long-range bomber fleet, so even a limited fire there disrupts a facility Moscow depends on for its most destructive strikes against Ukraine. Neither Russian officials nor independent monitors have detailed the scale of damage at either site yet. Bloomberg and the Kyiv Independent, citing Ukraine's General Staff and monitoring channels, first reported the strikes.