Ukraine’s April 27 successful drone attack on Russia’s Kushchevskaya airfield will likely force Russia to further disperse its aircraft and reallocate air defenses, impeding its aerial bombardment campaign, the British Defense Ministry says in its April 30 intelligence update.
Ukrainian drone attack on Russian airfield hits gliding bomb depot, possibly damages aircraft ????????
A massive Ukrainian drone attack centered around Kushchyovskaya airfield in Krasnodar Krai on 27 April likely damaged several aircraft and destroyed a warehouse containing UPMK kits… pic.twitter.com/ytx5VgKcdo
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 28, 2024
The ministry wrote:
- On 27 April 2024, Ukraine Interfax stated that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) used Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to strike Kushchevskaya airfield and the Ilsky and Slavyanskoil refineries in Krasnodar Krai. In total, the Russian MOD reportedly downed 66 UAVs, illustrating the scale of the attack.
- Kushchevskaya airfield hosts a number of Russian fighter jets, including SU-34 FULLBACK and Su-35S FLANKER M. These are used daily in strike missions against Ukrainian frontline positions, including the heavy use of glide bombs. Open source videos show several glide bomb kits destroyed in a storage location at the airfield.
- Russian fighters, from Kushchevskaya and a number of other airbases, typically conduct 100 to 150 sorties per day, a significant percentage of those launching munitions all along the frontlines as Russia attempts to force breakthroughs through sheer firepower.
- Ukraine’s ability to disrupt Russian tactical air, particularly glide bomb usage, is key to the wider defence of the frontlines. This successful strike is likely to force further Russian dispersals of fighters as well as reallocation of air defence assets to plug gaps.
The post-attack video from Kushchyovskaya airbase in Russia's Krasnodar Krai shows the UPMK kits massively used by Russian forces to modify "dumb" FAB-series bombs into glide bombs. pic.twitter.com/NhESAv2HTv
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 27, 2024
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