Satellite imagery confirms extensive damage to ammunition storage facilities at the Russian strategic bomber base Engels-2 some 600 km from Ukraine after Kyiv’s powerful drone attack this week.
Ukraine’s Security Service sources said on 20 March that its drone pilots and the Ukrainian Army’s Special Operations Forces struck the Engels-2 airfield in Russia’s Saratov Oblast the night before.
Satellite images by Maxar Technologies, shared by Business Insider and Radio Liberty journalist Mike Eckel on 21 March, revealed the aftermath of the attack. The strikes damaged an ammunition and weapons storage area, with explosions destroying multiple buildings and bunkers. The images showed the destruction of all warehouse buildings in the storage area, as well as several craters at the location of open platforms for ammunition storage. Signs of fire were visible on the adjacent territory.
Local residents reported powerful explosions early in the morning of 20 March, with blasts heard as far away as Saratov city, located approximately 15 km from the airbase. Videos later published online showed powerful secondary detonations of ammunition that reportedly continued for at least several hours.
The Russian governor of Saratov Oblast wrote in his Telegram post that the area suffered “the most massive UAV attack of all time” after the overnight strikes. Russia’s defense ministry claimed the same day that it had engaged and shot down 134 drones overnight across multiple regions.
Previous attacks
This is far from the first attack on the airbase and its associated infrastructure during the war. In January, Ukrainian drones twice struck aviation fuel storage facilities for Russian strategic bombers in Engels.
This year’s first attack took place on 8 January, when explosions rocked the Rosrezerv Kristal plant’s oil depot around 3 a.m., igniting a fire that burned for five days.
Drones returned on 14 January, delivering at least two strikes that triggered another blaze, with the operation executed by the 14th Separate UAV Regiment of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces in coordination with other defense units.
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